Kobe is a cosmopolitan port city around 30 minutes south of Osaka. The sixth largest city in Japan Kobe is probably best known for the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, Kobe Beef and the hot spring resort Arima Onsen located in mountain that overlooks the city, Mount Rokko.
Nestled between Osaka Bay and Mount Rokko in Japan’s Kansai region, Kobe is Japan’s sixth largest city and a busy port city. Located less than 30 minutes by train from Osaka Kobe is the capital of the Hyōgo Prefecture.
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Meriken Park
Located on Kobe’s waterfront Meriken Park is home to the Kobe Port Tower and Kobe Maritime Museum, the iconic metal frames of these two buildings have made Meriken Park a Kobe postcard favorite.
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Disaster Reduction Museum
The Disaster Reduction Museum is a museum run by the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, the institution was set up in the years following the Great Hanshin earthquake or as it is often more commonly known as “the Kobe earthquake”. The Great Hanshin earthquake hit the Kobe area on Tuesday, January 17, 1995 and registered 6.8 on the magnitude scale.
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Mount Rokko
The Rokko Mountains are part of the mountain range behind Kobe. The highest peak Rokko Saikoho rises 931 metres and offers spectacular views of Kobe City and the outlying islands in Osaka Bay and a chance to escape the busy city life for a few hours.
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Kobe Chinatown
Kobe’s Chinatown or Nankin-machi as it is known is a bustling and exciting precinct right in the city which no visitor to Kobe should miss, and is regarded as one of Japans best.
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Kobe Maritime Museum
The Kobe Maritime Museum is located in Meriken Park on Kobe’s waterfront next to the Kobe Port Tower and the Earth Quake Memorial Park.
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Kobe Port Tower
The Kobe Port Tower is one of the most striking structures on the Kobe skyline. Standing at 108 metres and painted in a burnt orange colour the tower is a very interesting piece of architecture and unlike many of Japan’s other towers its design is not inspired by France’s Eiffel Tower. Built as a hyperboloid structure and covered in a pipe lattice like cover the tower is quiet spectacular day or night.
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Tetsujin 28 Go Statue
Kobe is the home of one of Japan’s most unique monuments, a 18 metre high 50 ton robot statue. The robot Ironman Tetsujin 28 go (or Gigantor as he was known outside Japan) has been the star of a popular manga anime since the late 1950′s and was created by Kobe born Mitsuteru Yokoyama. The statue is made life-size and he is pretty heavy too, coming in at about 50 tons on the scales.
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Getting to Kobe
Getting to Kobe is pretty easy as there are lots of options depending on where you are coming from. Kobe is situated on the north of Osaka Bay with Osaka on its east. Kobe’s proximity to Osaka means that visiting Kobe as a day trip from your hotel in Osaka is a pretty good option considering the amount of local rail lines that travel between the two cities with around a 20 to 30 min journey.
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