Be Kobe

Monday and Tuesday, April 14 and 15, 2025

This was our first visit to Kobe. With a population of 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan’s seventh largest city. We stayed for two nights. We probably should have stayed longer, but we didn’t think it would be very interesting. So wrong.

There are numerous museums here, as well as other tourist attractions. Our first day was mostly a travel day, so we had to make the most of our second day.

We stayed at the Daiwa Roynet Kobe Sannomiya Premier. It is a typical Japanese business hotel. If we don’t know where to stay, we pick a hotel from the Daiwa Roynet chain and it is always clean, safe and in a good location. The rooms are usually quite small, so we try to reserve two or three steps above the cheapest level so that there will be two chairs, and the bed won’t be up against the wall on two sides. The rooms have just about every amenity you can think of, so it’s reasonably comfortable here.

Oops, we still got a bed with two sides against the wall - but it’s a king.

As we made our way to the Kobe City Museum, we passed an area of arcades (covered shopping streets) and I saw a booth welcoming passengers from the Noordam. I asked and found out the Noordam was indeed docking in Kobe today. That felt exciting, because we will be boarding the Noordam in just under two weeks. I hoped that we would be able to see her when we walked to the port later, but all we got to see was her stacks.

I have to mention that the weather was awful. The high was around 53℉ and it was very windy. It rained intermittently, as well. But we walked as much as we could.

We saw some banners hanging outside of Daimaru, a large department store. 

• I thought perhaps Daimaru was wishing a Happy Passover to the very small Kobe Jewish community. That seems unlikely, though.
• There is a Japanese Christian movement called makuya. They use a menorah as their symbol, rather than a cross. Maybe they are being recognized by Daimaru?
• Or maybe it’s just a stylized tree?

Here are some interesting “maintenance hole” covers.

Some other random sights:

A little white bear on top of the word “familiar” apparently has its own cafe 

 

A place to recycle plastic bottle caps!

At the Kobe City Museum we saw a small exhibit called Bronze Bells and Communities - Exploring Life in the Yayoi Period through the National Treasure, Sakuragaoka Bronze Bells. The Yayoi Period extended from approximately 300 BCE to 300 CE. Archaeologists believe that during the Yayoi Period the population of Honshu and Kyushu transitioned from hunter-gatherer to settled agricultural communities, and social classes began to emerge. Some archaeological sites were known to exist in and around Kobe for a long time. Large keyhole-shaped mounds still exist in the area. Then, in 1964 a stunning discovery happened by chance on a hillside near Kobe. Seventeen bronze bells from the Yayoi period were excavated. Figures of humans and animals were cast on some of the bells.

These bells were incredibly evocative. I could imagine the sounds they made. The simplicity of the exhibit removed all the distractions of a typical museum gallery and it was easy to focus on the bells and think about the moment of their fortuitous discovery. (I majored in Anthro many years ago, and I still love this stuff.)

The Kobe City Museum also had a small but interesting exhibit on the history of Kobe. The port was opened to foreign trade in 1868. In 1889 the city of Kobe was born, and in 1958 Kobe merged with surrounding areas to become the Kobe of today. There were a few old maps, and a small display on old glass brought by early European traders. How the mysterious properties of glass must have amazed people who had not seen glass before! 

But that was about the extent of it. The second floor of the museum had virtually nothing. We were rather disappointed that they didn’t have more to offer.

We rode the “Blue Loop” to the port. It’s an inexpensive city bus that loops around to all the tourist spots, but it’s a regular bus, not a hop-on hop-off. We got off the bus near Kobe Tower, a landmark in the port area.  Other than the tower, which we did not go into, and the “Be Kobe” sign, this area was not that interesting.

Kobe Tower

I really like this sign

Next, we visited Ikuta Shrine, after walking there from Sannomiya Station. Ikuta is possibly one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan. It is said that the shrine was founded by the Empress Jingu at the beginning of the Third Century CE (~200 AD).

As we walked back to our hotel, we began to pass a lot of restaurants featuring Kobe beef. I had been researching places to get Kobe beef, and I recognized the name of a place we passed as a restaurant that was frequently mentioned as one of the best. The sign indicated the dinner menu would be available, and we decided to go up and look.

It was very expensive, but we decided it was a bucket list type of thing and we had to try it because we might never get another chance to have real Kobe beef while in Kobe. 

it was about 4:00 pm and the restaurant was nearly empty, which was good. We were seated after 10 minutes and we had the full attention of our chef. It was a teppan-yaki meal, meaning cooked right in front of us on a large, flat heated iron plate. We got to pick the kind of meat, the cut, and the size. I picked a smaller portion of Kobe beef rump and Ken picked a slightly larger piece of rib-eye that was not certified Kobe beef, but the top type of local beef.

Every step of it was artful, without being flashy or pretentious. There was no flipping pieces onto our plates from six feet away or drumming with knives on the edge of the stove. A lot of care was taken to show us what was being done and to present the food properly. Everything was spotlessly clean. The chef constantly cleaned as she went. The timing of everything was just right. It was fresh and delicious. It really was a perfect meal. Ken thought it was the best beef he had ever had.

The uncooked vegetables (for one)

Jumbo pieces of garlic (for two). We could have had more, but we don’t tolerate garlic well.

Mine is in front of Ken, and vice versa

The chef renders some of the fat

The first taste is served with various condiments: salt, black pepper, wasabi, onion

We sat on the left, where two assistants are cleaning up

Today’s fabric is the Kobe Tartan. According to The Scottish Register of Tartans, the Kobe tartan symbolizes the city - blue for the Port of Kobe, light green for the Rokko mountains, red for the Port Tower and principal bridges, and white for the principal buildings and Kobe pearls, a specialty of the city. The tartan was created in 2014 for Kobe Fashion Organization.