Japan: Kōbe

I had the luxury of a two day weekend last week (we usually only get Sunday off), so I fled the hustle and bustle of Osaka to visit Kōbe. The place was wrecked by an earthquake in the 1990s, but it’s been rebuilt and has a very different feel to it compared to Osaka – it feels more Western somehow.

My day got off to quite a bad start. I wanted to see the Kōbe City Museum but found only this sign telling me it was closed until further notice.

The port was quite interesting – there was a loud crowd watching this ship.

The port tower is pretty impressive too.

I stumbled across a great football shop too – I was very glad I’d not brought a lot of money with me; I would have been tempted to blow my budget on MLS shirts.

They also have a statue of Elvis, because what could be more relevant in a famous Japanese port city?

I didn’t think much to the place to be honest - maybe I wasn’t looking in the right places. I guess anything would struggle in comparison with nearby Kyoto with its hundreds of temples, or Osaka with its big city feel.