Posted in Art, Kobe, Society on May 30th, 2008 No Comments »
The Kobe City Government has been active in providing some pleasant diversion for its citizens when they walk the streets of this port city. In other words, it has done what so many other Japanese cities do: placed a number of statues along its streets. And as usual in Japan, when selecting these works of […]
Posted in Food, Japan, Kobe, Museums, Sake on May 21st, 2008 4 Comments »
The largest sake producing area in the whole of Japan can be found in Hyogo Prefecture, at the seaside of Nishinomiya and in the eastern part of Kobe. This area is called “Nada” and as there are five sake producing districts, one speaks about the “Five Nada Districts” (Nada Gogo). From east to west these […]
Posted in Festivals, Kobe, Nature on Apr 11th, 2008 No Comments »
What is the best sakura (cherry blossom) viewing spot in the wider Kobe area?
The best spot to enjoy both the sakura themselves and the hanami people engaged in viewing them is Shukugawa Park, in the western part of Nishinomiya, which was included in the top of the “Hundred Sakura Viewing Places” selected in 1990. The […]
Posted in Art, History, Kobe, Museums on Mar 31st, 2008 No Comments »
As suits an international city, the Kobe City Museum is devoted to the themes of “International Cultural Exchange” and “Contact Between and Changes in Eastern and Western Cultures.” It has been accommodated in a former bank building with Dorian columns from the nineteen-thirties. The museum opened in 1982 after the merger of two museums that […]
Posted in History, Kobe, Museums, Nature, Temples, Travel on Mar 28th, 2008 2 Comments »
Although I had been living for a year in Kobe, I had not yet made my way to that part of the city where the hot springs of Arima are located. There was no need to play the tourist, I thought, but last weekend curiosity drove me if not to the baths themselves, at least […]
Posted in Kobe, Nature, Photography on Jan 30th, 2008 No Comments »
Via Furoshiki Blog my attention was called to the New York Public Library Digital Collections, which contains many old photographs from 19th c. Japan.
This is an albumen print of the famous Nunobiki Falls in Kobe. It shows the lower one, the Medaki, situated immediately behind the Shinkobe Shinkansen Station.
It is interesting to see […]
Posted in History, Kobe, Religion, Temples on Jan 16th, 2008 No Comments »
The Ikuta Shrine stands at the origins of Kobe, so it could not be more right that it also stands in the middle of the Sannomiya shopping center of the modern city.
[Ikuta Road, leading to the shrine]
But that is not its original location. The Ikuta Shrine used to be situated at Sunayama, a hill near […]
Posted in Fun, Kobe, Society on Jan 15th, 2008 No Comments »
Is this The Thinker, anno 2008? Reborn in female form in Kobe’s Sannomiya?
Or is it not philosophy that keeps her mind occupied… could she be dreaming about this nearby sign advertising something special to Japanese culture: a “Host Club?”
Posted in Culture, Food, Kobe on Jan 14th, 2008 No Comments »
We have tachi-yomi (standing and browsing the magazines and manga in a bookshop), tachi-shomben (public urinating in an upright position), and this is tachi-gui, eating at a stand-up restaurant. The diners are enjoying bowls of hot Hakata Ramen, something quite enviable.
Posted in Culture, Festivals, Japan, Kobe on Jan 14th, 2008 3 Comments »
Today was Seijin no Hi, the day with Coming of Age ceremonies - see my post of last year about the meaning of this day. I had almost forgotten about it until I spotted these young women in their gorgeous kimono near Sannomiya in Kobe.
There is still tradition in Japan.
Even in modern Kobe.
With a modern […]
Posted in Kobe, Religion, Sake, Temples, Travel on Jan 14th, 2008 No Comments »
There are several legends about the origins of the popular Nishinomiya Ebisu Shrine in Nishinomiya. One tale goes back to ancient myth and starts with a sad story. The creator gods from Japanese mythology, Izanagi and his sister/spouse Izanami have received a jewelled spear from the other deities to begin their grand work of […]
Posted in Kobe, Technology, Travel on Jan 6th, 2008 1 Comment »
The Rokko Liner connects Rokko Island with Sumiyoshi Station in Kobe. It is a so-called “automated guideway transit system” meaning the trains are computer controlled and do not need a driver. It runs on an elevated track that winds its way from Sumiyoshi (a JR station) to the island.
Rokko Island is the second major artificial […]
Posted in Art, Kobe, Museums on Apr 2nd, 2007 No Comments »
In the Kansai, there are several small museums with great and rare collections, which are easy to miss as they are only open a few weeks each spring and autumn. One of these is the Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Cultures in Nishinomiya. The institute was established in 1950 by Kurokawa Koshichi, a financier from Osaka, […]
