Day 114 - Minatogawa Jinja

We arrived in Kobe this morning just after 7am. Immigration would not clear us with the crew so it was arranged that the agent would take us to them. This turned out to be the best thing ever. Not only did he escort us to immigration but he took us to a shrine afterwards, as the stores were not open. After letting us out in front of a bank, to exchange money, he arranged a meeting place for the afternoon. The time was actually of our choosing. On top of this he provided a tourist map as well as contact information and another map with instructions for a taxi driver if we chose to come back at a different time. This left the four of us to explore on our own with a guaranteed ride back to the ship. It was just perfect.

Kobe is a beautiful city. I suspect some of this has to do with an earthquake in 1995 that destroyed a good part of it. There is no evidence of this by now, with everything being rebuilt. Some of the public spaces we walked through were beautifully landscaped with large sections being devoted to park space. We walked through two shopping streets that are actually glass covered, yet still open-air. As most cities there is a Chinatown, which is beautiful. I was sorry afterwards to realise that I hadn’t taken many pictures of it. We spent most of the day just walking around, exploring the city. We had Kobe beef for lunch, something at home that is touted as the best beef. It was a pretty good lunch. Late in the afternoon it darkened a bit and rain threatened. We were down near the waterfront and spotted a city tour bus. For 250 Yen (a few dollars) we spent an hour seeing the sights while it rained a little. Now, although the map was in English, the tour was not. It really didn’t matter as the tour map gave enough information so we could follow where we were.

The streets are labelled in English and a lot of the stores have English in their signs, as well as packaging for some consumer goods. This should not be confused as a city where English is widely spoken. Having said that we had very few problems getting around or purchasing what we needed. I had a short conversation in one of the shopping street with a woman whose English was excellent. She had offered help with directions, which I hadn’t needed, and was fascinated by the trip we were taking. Anyway, when we were early back to our meeting spot we went into a coffee house, something the city is full of. The waitress said she didn’t speak English, however, she understood that we wanted coffee, that my mother wanted something sweet to go with it, and afterwards that a restroom was required. So, she really did speak enough English. At least for these horrible tourists who speak no Japanese. Overall, it was a lovely day.