Kobe Adventures

On March 28th, one of my junior high school’s English teachers, and the Japanese person who looks out for me the most, Suzuki-sensei took me, Kris and Giselle to Kobe. Kobe is my prefecture’s (the Japanese equivalent to a state or province) capital. It is also the 6th largest city in Japan, home of kobe beef (the most expensive and flavorful beef in the world, or so I’m told), and was one of Japan’s first cities to open their ports to foreigners. Because of this, Kobe is a much more exotic city (by Japan’s standards) and has Japan’s oldest Chinatown, a multicultural shopping centre, a district completely filled with western style houses, and Japan’s largest foreign food store. There’s a lot to see and do in Kobe, but due to time constraints on this trip we only had time to check out the multicultural shopping centre and amusement park, Chinatown, and the city’s downtown area.
Once we got to Kobe, it was almost 1pm, so we decided that our first stop should be lunch. Since the three Canadians are a little tired of Japanese food, and our tour guide is always up for new stuff, we sought out a restaurant that served something besides Japanese food. Luckily, Giselle knew of a Brazilian steak house located in The Mosaic (the multicultural shopping centre). If you ever get the chance to go to a Brazilian steak house, go! The food is amazing and the meat is served on swords. Everything tastes better on a sword. And the best part of this restaurant was that the wait staff spoke English! Okay, that’s not really the best part. The dessert of pineapple on a sword was the best part, but having a conversation in English was a nice change of pace.
Once we were fed and happy, we made our way around The Mosaic and Harbourland, the amusement park connected to The Mosaic. Actually, I’m not 100% sure what came first, Harbourland or The Mosaic, but I was told that the shopping area was called The Mosaic, and that’s where we spent most of our time. The Mosaic is an out-door shopping centre filled with shops, restaurants and other fun places to spend your money. Giselle and I had a lot of fun looking at the different shops (I finally got a charm for my cell phone) and Kris had fun drawing what he saw and spending time in the arcade.
After we conquered The Mosaic, we made our way to Chinatown. Since we were on a schedule, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time in Chinatown, but I know where it is now and knowing is half the battle. We did have fun during our few minutes in a brightly colored central area of Chinatown.
If you’re a new traveler to Kobe and are unsure if you’re in Chinatown, then you’re probably not in Chinatown. This area just screams China. From the brightly colored paper lanterns, to the food stands filling your senses with smells that would make you float cartoon-style to the sources, there is no mistaking that this is Chinatown. We took a few photos, refueled our tanks with some fresh pork buns, and we were on our way to our last stop: Sannomiya, Kobe’s downtown area and one of the largest shopping areas on this side of Japan.
I think the time has come for me to explain the difference between a shopping centre and a shopping area. A shopping centre, at least by my definition is a cluster of shops in one distinct area that share a common space, like walls or a ceiling. A shopping area, on the other hand, is an area comprised of many different shops all along the same street or in close proximity to each other. Sannomiya is like the love child. The shopping area is comprised of a few blocks, but within those blocks are a few shopping centers. And it really is a shopper’s paradise.
Since Sannomiya is huge, and we had no idea where to go, we just picked a street to walk down at random. Turns out, we picked a really good street. Kris found the anime toy sop he wanted to see, while Giselle and I found an American comic book store and a two-storey dollar store. I probably haven’t mentioned it yet, but I love Japanese dollar stores. It’s simply amazing what you can find in there. But that’s a story for another blog entry.
After some shopping we headed back to The Mosaic, as we had parked there. As pretty as it was during the day, it is simple breathtaking at evening. I happily started to snap pictures with my camera of every lit object I could find. I might have missed the kanji (Japanese writing system that uses Chinese characters) made of lights on the mountains if Suzuki-sensei hadn’t pointed it out to me. There were three different kanji, one each mountain peak. I’m pretty sure Suzuki-sensei translated it to “Kobe’s strength.” I tried to take photos of them, but it’s really hard to get good photos of lights at night. But seeing as I’m so close to Kobe, I will be back, and I will get those pictures!