Japan Navigator

Although Kobe attracts the more than respectable number of 25 million visitors a year, it ranks not very high on the wishlist of visitors from Europe or America. The reasons are simple: we come here for (traditional) Japanese culture and competition in the Kansai with heavyweights as Kyoto and Nara is just too severe. Moreover, we have enough old 19th century Western houses at home, so the Ijinkan in Kobe’s Kitano Ward are not exactly enticing. If they were real museums filled with art and antiques it might be a somewhat different story, but what you will find inside is usually just junk plus photo opportunities for Japanese who are too lazy to travel to Europe (Kitano is also quite popular for weddings with an exotic Western background). The district itself has some atmosphere, but more on the level of an evening stroll if you live nearby than a tourist destination.

[Ijinkan, Kobe - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

That does not mean you have to give up on Kobe. If you are only in the Kansai for a week or so, by all means concentrate your energies on Kyoto, but if you are staying longer, a day in Kobe can be a day well spent - especially when you are interested in that heavenly drink called sake, of which some of the best breweries and their museums with traditional equipment sit along the seashore between Rokkomichi and Sumiyoshi. To make a sightseeing triad (all good things come in sets of three), besides sake, Kobe has a wonderful landscape (although marred by elevated expressways and other warts and pimples of the modern construction state), consisting of the sea (the port) on the one hand and the mountains (Rokko) on the other. Nowhere in Japan are sea and mountains so close together, with the city as a thin strip in between (if you wonder where Kobe’s 1.5 million inhabitants all live: the hills behind the Rokko mountains have been flattened to make place for “new towns”).

So how to go about your day in Kobe? Of the three modules, it is best to start with the sake museums in the morning; the visit to the port and Mr Rokko can be interchanged, it depends whether in the early evening you want to see the glittering city lights from above or from the coast - both are beautiful.

1. Sake Museums

The great thing about sake breweries are of course the free tasting opportunities they offer, which is the only thing pleading against a morning visit. But it is a holiday, and of course we are making the trip on foot. As time is limited, I suggest picking out the two breweries in the Nada district that have the most interesting museums: Kikumasamune and Hakutsuru. The Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum has been set up in an old brewhouse and shows the whole process of traditional sake making with tools and mannequins. Impressive are the huge vats, one even hanging from the ceiling on a pulley. You can also peep into a “koji room,” where the mold is being cultivated.

[Kikumasamune - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

The Kikumasamune Brewing Memorial Museum (unfortunately no English webpage…) is just as interesting, with even more valuable sake-making tools on view (designated national cultural assets), from wooden barrels to stone presses. The brewhouse here stands behind a traditional Long Gate and there is a watermill in the grounds.

Why are there so many sake breweries in Nada? The area developed as a brewery district in the Edo-period thanks to the availability of excellent water (so-called miya-mizu from Mt Rokko), good rice and a busy port for shipping the products all over Japan. There are still 50 sake breweries here which together produce 1/3 of all sake in Japan.

Both museums are within walking distance from train stations: the Kikumasamune Museum is 2 min from Minami-Uozaki Station on the Rokko liner, or 10 min from Uozaki St on the Hanshin line; the Hakutsuru Museum is 5 min walk from Hanshin Sumiyoshi St. They are only 5 min on foot apart. The Kikumasamune Museum is closed on Mondays. Both are free, but you have to register name and address at the entrance.

[Cable car to Mt Maya - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

2. Mt Maya (Rokko)

Mt Maya, part of the Rokko mountains, offers the best “hundred million dollar” view of Kobe and surroundings from its “Kikuseidai” viewing platform. The 700 meter high mountain is called after the mother of the Buddha, who is honored in Tenjoji Temple, a ten minute walk from the sightseeing platform, and worth dropping in. You get to the mountain top by the Maya View Line Yume-Sanpo, a combination of cable car and ropeway (860 yen one way; closed on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month), which you can pick up at the Maya Keeburu-shita stop of bus 18 leaving from Sannomiya (get there by train from Hanshin Sumiyoshi).

[View from Mt Maya - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

Also in the daytime the view is fantastic! (There are more viewing platforms on Mt Rokko, but from the Kikuseidai you can see as far as Osaka and you have the temple as a bonus). For a different descent, take the Hankyu bus leaving from Kikuseidai down the mountain to Hankyu Rokko St.

[Kobe Port Tower - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

3. Kobe Port

The best way to enjoy the sea and the port is by taking a short cruise by one of the many ships leaving from the Naka Pier (get there from Hankyu Rokko St. by taking a train to Sannomiya and then transfer to the JR line to Kobe St, after which the port is a 5 min walk). There are various price options for your baoting tour, the cheapest is about 1,000 yen, on the somewhat kitschy “Roman ship.” Most cruises make a round through the port and also skirt along Kobe’s new airport lying on a manmade island behing Port Island. After enjoying the sea breeze, you could visit the Kobe Maritime Museum (if it is still open, it closes at five), Merikan park with the tacky Port Tower (no need to go up here, you have already had a better view) and Kobe Harborland with its many restaurants. Have a nice day!

[Pirates in Kobe Port - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

Read A Budget Day in Kobe in the Japan Times for another take on the subject (skipping the mountain with its relatively expensive transportation)