神戸 Kobe

The Takachiho　trip entry was long winded. I'm going to try to shorten the future posts for the sake of my own time, but I make no promises.



This time, I want to talk about Kobe. A neighbor from the U.S., who was placed in Kobe, couldn't rave enough about it. On another long weekend, when everyone was busy, I decided to go on my own. I trained and flew out to Osaka on Friday night. When I got to Guesthouse Tennoji (a place I've stayed before), it was nearly midnight. The Guesthouse keeper remembered me, but looked perplexed. Apparently, somewhere between all of the English competitions I was training my students for, I didn't realize that his Guesthouse requested an email confirmation. It's rare that hostels or hotels do so in Japan. As such, he had canceled my reservation for that night, but I was in luck! The mens dormitory was completely empty that night, so I was able to stay there.

I was staying in hostel in Kobe the next night, but I really wanted to see Hikone Castle, which is in Shiga, bordering the east of Kyoto (if you look at the map, it'll all make more sense).





I set off on a 45 minute train ride with all of my bags to meet up with my friend Masafumi who lived in Kyoto and had planned to come see the castle with me. Carrying my bags, I mused about the pleasantries of public transportation in Japan. Almost all Japanese train stations and airports have lockers of varying sizes, which make traveling from place to place extremely convenient. I intended to do so with my duffel bag and backpack. As the train I was on got crowded, I placed my duffel bag in the overhead rack and relaxed.

When I finally got to the station at which we were meeting, I took one look at my friend's face and felt the icy cold fingers of realization rake down my back; I had forgotten my bag on the train!

Not only that, but I had forgotten my bag on the train when I changed trains at Kyoto Station, easily one of the biggest, busiest stations in Japan. I was lucky that I had forgotten my duffel bag and not my book-bag, which had all my important things -- computer, phone, wallet, etc. However, the duffel bag had all of my clothes for the trip, including spare shoes and all of a girl's essentials.

Thankfully, Japanese trains run extremely on time. Trains are only late by a minute, if at all, and so online train tables are very accurate. If you ever travel by train in Japan, check out hyperdia.com (input the departing station, arrival station, and departing time, and it will give you several options around that time, including prices!)

It was easy enough to explain to the station staff at what point in time I lost my bag, but describing it was another matter. All I could say was "It's a Japanese style design with lots of zippers." Which it was. There was no other way to describe it, as only seeing would really help, and there was no solid description to go on besides "it has lots of flowers." Even so, the staff was kind enough to put out a call for train attendants to be on the lookout.

There was nothing to be done at that point, so my friend and I went out to see the castle.

Hikone Castle is one of the few original castles of Japan. There's no real furnishing left inside, but the timbers of the rafters are not as factory-straight like some of the recreations; rather, they are made from naturally cut trunks, and it's interesting to see how they curve together to support the roof.

We called the station help line to check on the status of my bags over a cup of Starbucks coffee (Japan has special flavors not available in America, so don't judge me!), but they were still lost to me it seemed.

It was nearing 7:00 in the evening. Sad and clothes-less save the clothes on my very back, I took an hour train ride to Kobe, this time careful not to leave my bags behind. My GPS insisted on taking me down an alley that looked like a dead end, but as I turned the corner, there before my very eyes was a colorful, newly built hostel that radiated warmth.

Exhausted, and not little worried for my bags -- I was on a three-day trip, day one, with no spare clothes! -- I checked in. I had a personal room with a bathroom and shower to myself, which was a relief. As I was preparing my instant noodles in the kitchen of the place, two Japanese guys come in, acting like a comedy duo. They were surprised that I not only spoke Japanese, but enough to joke back at them. Needless to say, we were fast friends.

The two of them were actually Kobe locals, who were friends with the barista/bar tender and often came to the hostel to drink coffee.

Oh yeah, as if it's not cool enough that this hostel is an old Japanese house that was reconstructed by the owners and the owners' friends by hand, and is decorated with original artwork (doors, walls, everything!), it has a small cafe area that's available to everyone, locals included. The barista, a twenty-something with an awesome mustache, mysterious air, and incredible English skills, was equally entertaining. Talking through the night with them and the female owner, I ended up with two tour guides for the next day.

My friend from Kyoto, who had never been to Kobe, was kind enough to come meet up with me, and as we were about to call the train station, I got a call instead. Lucky for me, my bag ended up at a station only a ten minute train ride away! We went over and got the bag, with all of my articles untouched, and got a nice view of the coast along the way. The rest of the day, we spent with the Kobe Comedy duo, who took us all around the city by foot.

The harbor area at night is splendid, as many of the buildings are illuminated, including a rainbow-lit Ferris wheel. The most astounding part, however, was the large waterfall on a mountain directly behind Shin-Kobe station, a major station!

Overall, this was my impression of Kobe. It used to be the center of Kansai, that region of Japan, until the great earthquake a bunch of years ago. Now, it's still a rather large port city, but the main attractions seem to be shopping and food, Osaka having taken a more dominant role in the realm of business. Many of the streets are wide and open, and there's a lot of beauty to be seen. Compared to other places, it may seem unremarkable, but there's an air that's, simply put, enchanting about it. Now that I have friends there, it's double attractive, and I couldn't wait to go again. I did, actually, for this past New Year's, but that's a story for another time...