Kobe tourist information
San-no-miya, the biggest shopping quarter of Kobe, is located on the west bank of Ikuta-gawa River. It is not only popular as a place for shopping and dining, but also a very important transportation hub for many train lines which come into San-no-miya; JR Tokaido Honsen Line, Subway Yamanote Line, Hanshin Honsen Line, Hankyu-Kobe Honsen Line and Kobe Shin-kotsu Port Island Line.
Underground shopping street with easy transportation access, San-chika Town has over 130 shops, varying from boutique fashion goods to restaurants. The open floor gives a bright atmosphere to this shopping area.
Flower Road is a 50-meter wide road that stretches southward from San-no-miya Station. There are a Flower Clock, fountains and sculptures among the trees. Higashi-yuenchi Amusement Park used to be the exclusive playground for foreigners and is the birthplace of modern sports.
The 550 meter long arcade between Flower Road and Moto-machi on the south-west of the station is called the San-no-miya Center. Boutiques, stores selling imported goods, bakeries, cake shops, big shopping buildings and restaurants make San-no-miya Center one of the big shopping areas representative of Kobe.
San-no-miya-jinja Shrine, from which the name "San-no-miya" has derived, is located in the south of the Center.
Kitano is a town on the hills north of San-no-miya. In the late 19th century, foreigners who moved from Kobe, built their houses in a western style in memory of their homes, on the high hills of Yamanote overlooking the sea.
The street that runs from east to west of Kitano is called Ijinkan-dori Street or the Foreigner House Street, and is the main street of Kitano. Fudo-zaka, that stretches from the east end of Ijinkan-dori Street towards north, and Hunter-zaka that runs north from the middle of Ijinkan-dori Street, are lined with sophisticated boutiques and international cuisine restaurants.
In the area around Kitano-dori Street, that runs from east to west on the northern side of Kitano, many foreigners built their houses between the 19th and early 20th century. These houses called Ijinkan, the foreigners' houses, and are designated as National Important Cultural Properties. In particular, Kazamidori-no-yakata or the Weathercock House, is typical of Kitano. The architectural style of Rain-no-yakata, a National Important Cultural Property, is typical of a foreigner's house. Uroko-no-ie has a characteristic wall of scale-like design, and its antique furniture and collection of western porcelain is famous. Its first floor is open to the public as a tea-room. A number of these buildings, along with their collections, are open to the public, as in the case of Yamate-hachiban-kan, once owned by a Spaniard, in which Spanish armor and shields and furniture from the Middle Ages are exhibited.
Nada is in the south-eastern part of Hyogo. Nada Go-go is the generic name of 5 areas that lie within 12 kilometers between Kobe and Nishinomiya; Nishi-go, Mikage-go, Uozaki-go, Nishinomiya-go and Imazu-go. Uozaki-go is in the south of Uozaki Station by Hankyu Honsen Line, and along the so-called Sakagura-no-michi, or Sake Brewery Street, which stretches to the west, many sake(rice wine) breweries stand side by side. There were three reasons for the development of sake brewing in the 18th century that made the name of Nada known throughout Japan. One was the discovery of miya-mizu, excellent quality water for making sake; two, the production of rice of high quality, an ingredient in sake; and three, a convenient location for transportation by sea.
Most of the brewers have their own museums(shiryo-kan) to introduce the process of sake brewing and information on production of sake. In the factory of the Hama-fuku-tsuru Brewery, rice is polished to less than 60%, fermented at low temperature, then brewed. Visitors can watch the process of sake brewing using new equipment through the glass window and then try sake at the tasting corner.
JR Kobe Station area is close to Kobe Port, the second largest trading port in Japan and is called the Bay Area. Nearby Kobe Harborland has nice stores to enjoy shopping and gourmet food. Nightspots and recreational facilities, such as amusement parks, attract people day and night.
On the seaside of Harborland is "Mosaic" town, a very unique place. A big Ferris wheel and carousel, Mosaic Garden and restaurants, boutiques and movie theaters form an almost mosaic-like effect in this commercial park complex. An open air mall and square with a view of the sea make this park a very popular area.
When 80 zelkova trees on Kobe Gasu-to-dori Street are decorated with 80,000 lights, they are like a fantasy world. The illumination has become a symbolic winter scene of Kobe Harborland. Modern buildings line the waterfront and visitors can enjoy the open atmosphere of this place.
by Japan National Tourist Organization
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