Associated around the world for its famous beef, visitors flock to Kobe to get a taste of the delicious steaks and burgers.
Kobe is the most popular city in Hyogo prefecture. If you ride the monorail you will see there is a lot to do in this city; from the tons of bars and restaurants, museums, to the zoos. Don’t forget to take the Shin-Kobe Ropeway (cable car) up Mount Rokko to see the beautiful city view at night.
Himeji Castle
Step out of the North Exit of the Himeji Station and witness Japan’s largest and most visited castle. It’s known as the “White Heron Castle” because of it’s glorious white exterior. Originally a defensive fort, built on top of Himeyama (Hime mountain), Himeji Castle was built and transformed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan’s most infamous historical figures of the Edo period, also known as the age of the samurai.
During my time in Japan, I’ve visited about nine castles, but Himeji Castle, by far has the most dynamic exterior defensive system that I have seen thus far. Someone was definitely paranoid of their enemies during that era!
Originally, the castle was surrounded by three very deep and fairly wide moats. With the outer moat razed, two remain: the inner moat and the central moat. While the central moat was partially intact, only the inner moat remained completely intact which I went across by a short bridge.
The moats weren’t however, the only evidence of paranoia that I observed. The long distance from the front entrance gate on the path leading up to the castle and extreme high level of the castle on top of the hill, led me to believe that this samurai warrior wanted to detect all intruders from all angles. As I walked through the winding, narrow walkways to the entrance of the castle I felt like I was hiking up a mountain.
When I arrived at the entrance of the castle, my journey – like the song – “had only just begun”. We were all instructed by the castle workers to remove our shoes in the genkan (玄関) (Japanese for vestibule) because of the necessity to keep the castle’s polished wood flooring intact. The steepness of the steps reminded me of when I walked through Hikone castle. I was extremely cautious, watching each step I took going up and down the stairs.
It was quite warm inside being that it was the middle of summer, so the only ounce of coolness available seeped through the narrow slits of the castle walls. There were a few fans placed sporadically in random corners, and I could tell if they made a difference.
Once we finished my tour through the castle, I collected my shoes, and enjoyed the front view of the castle from the upper level of the castle grounds. My friend and I wanted to eat lunch in this area, but there are clear signs that illustrate food and drinks are prohibited from the area. There is a sitting area near the souvenir shop where we sat and ate our onigiri.
Himeji Castle was the last place I visited before I moved back to the States. My host mom highly recommended I go visit the castle, and I’m glad I did.
Admission fee
1000 yen
1040 yen (castle & garden)
Station: Himeji Station
1/hr ride approx. from Osaka Station
1/hr 30 minutes ride approx. from Kyoto Station
Animal Kingdom
The Kobe Animal Kingdom is a great family trip or even a fun date. It’s an indoor/outdoor, smaller-sized zoo with a wide range of animals and birds. You can touch many of the animals. They have daily scheduled animal shows that are fun to watch and also a “feeding time” when you can watch the workers feed the animals. My friend and I went on the weekend and it was very crowded.
The best thing to do is to purchase the 1-Day Kobe train pass. This allows you to ride the monorail (depending on which 1 Day pass you buy) and the Hankyu Kobe train line to the Animal Kingdom. Check out the Tickets & Day Passes page to get more information on the 1-Day passes.
Oji Zoo
Oji Zoo is your typical zoo with various kinds of animals. It’s very easy to get to from the nearest station. This zoo is like any other zoo. Animals. Rides. Food. If you are in the Kobe area this is a nice place to go to with the family. I only went because I had planned to go to a football game and the stadium is right next to the zoo. There is also Tennoji Zoo in Osaka, but I have not been to that one.
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