Day Trip: Kobe (Oct 16)
A group of us went to Kobe a week or two ago for a small day trip since it was the weekend. The cheapest way (from our dorm) is around 800 yen one way by Randen line and the Hankyu Railroad (JR Railway would cost us more than 1000 yen). It was a pretty long ride, since it took a good 40 minutes by semi-express from Kyoto to Osaka alone (Kobe is a bit beyond Osaka).
Covered shopping area, stretches on for a couple kilometres and is 2 floors.
It's like a chain!
Japan is very big on being visual. In many downtown areas, it's common to see huge flashy advertisements on buildings and plastered everywhere on trains and buses. In terms of food, they have プラスチックフード plastic food. Display cases outside of restaurants will have rows and rows of their menu items, all in plastic.
Might also have signboards with pictures.
Had lunch at Hanazono, a small restaurant in the basement. For 620 yen, I got katsudon.
Yum yum yum yum, could barely finish all this.
After, we headed to Chinatown, which is also known as Nankin Machi (南京町).
Passed several huge department stores and more covered shopping areas.
Nankin-machi, Kobe's Chinatown and very Chinese-looking.
Reaching Chinatown was like a blast from home, because it was full of people speaking Chinese, Chinese restaurants and tiny grocery shops. There were some incorportated aspects of Japanese culture (like this strange obessions with Xiao Long Bao (小笼包) and anything shrimp-related). The cuisine really resembles North American Chinese food ie. choy suey and chow mein. Howevver, there were still lots of authentic dishes (I miss Vancouver dim sum!!) and there were tons of street vendors and (not so pretty) girls on the side calling for people to come try restaurants.
Bruce Lee hiding in a small alley with a vuvuzela in one hand...
Our last tourist stop was at Ikuta Shrine, possibly one of the oldest shrines in Japan.
They were starting to celebrate Shichi-Go-San, a rite-of-passage festival for children who are ages 3, 5, and 7.
We wandered around the shrine for a bit before heading to dinner. The streets closest to Sannomiya Station were literally overflowing with cafes and restaurants, so it was really tough picking a place to eat. Jun finally narrowed it down to Happy Factory izakaya, and to our pleasant surprise (and excitement), the izakaya featured a touch screen menu.
You click on the menu titles (ie. drinks, hot pot, etc.) and then click on the picture to add it to your bill. You can order multiple times, multiple items, call the waitress, or even call over a nearby magician to perform "table magic" for free.
After eating and drinking, we headed back to Kyoto to make the last train. Though we managed to make it on time for nearly all the trains, we were too late for the one heading to Kitano-Hakubaicho and had to walk back from Katsubira no Tsuji. Whoops :)
Kobe Purin Kit Kat!!!!
However, the night wasn't over as we headed to another izakaya to relax, played around in a park for a bit, then talked (in my room
Covered shopping area, stretches on for a couple kilometres and is 2 floors.
It's like a chain!
Japan is very big on being visual. In many downtown areas, it's common to see huge flashy advertisements on buildings and plastered everywhere on trains and buses. In terms of food, they have プラスチックフード plastic food. Display cases outside of restaurants will have rows and rows of their menu items, all in plastic.
Might also have signboards with pictures.
Had lunch at Hanazono, a small restaurant in the basement. For 620 yen, I got katsudon.
Yum yum yum yum, could barely finish all this.
After, we headed to Chinatown, which is also known as Nankin Machi (南京町).
Passed several huge department stores and more covered shopping areas.
Nankin-machi, Kobe's Chinatown and very Chinese-looking.
Reaching Chinatown was like a blast from home, because it was full of people speaking Chinese, Chinese restaurants and tiny grocery shops. There were some incorportated aspects of Japanese culture (like this strange obessions with Xiao Long Bao (小笼包) and anything shrimp-related). The cuisine really resembles North American Chinese food ie. choy suey and chow mein. Howevver, there were still lots of authentic dishes (I miss Vancouver dim sum!!) and there were tons of street vendors and (not so pretty) girls on the side calling for people to come try restaurants.
Bruce Lee hiding in a small alley with a vuvuzela in one hand...
Our last tourist stop was at Ikuta Shrine, possibly one of the oldest shrines in Japan.
They were starting to celebrate Shichi-Go-San, a rite-of-passage festival for children who are ages 3, 5, and 7.
We wandered around the shrine for a bit before heading to dinner. The streets closest to Sannomiya Station were literally overflowing with cafes and restaurants, so it was really tough picking a place to eat. Jun finally narrowed it down to Happy Factory izakaya, and to our pleasant surprise (and excitement), the izakaya featured a touch screen menu.
You click on the menu titles (ie. drinks, hot pot, etc.) and then click on the picture to add it to your bill. You can order multiple times, multiple items, call the waitress, or even call over a nearby magician to perform "table magic" for free.
After eating and drinking, we headed back to Kyoto to make the last train. Though we managed to make it on time for nearly all the trains, we were too late for the one heading to Kitano-Hakubaicho and had to walk back from Katsubira no Tsuji. Whoops :)
Kobe Purin Kit Kat!!!!
However, the night wasn't over as we headed to another izakaya to relax, played around in a park for a bit, then talked (in my room