Our day in Kobe (January 31) was delightfully unpressured. There were
nice things to see, but we didn’t feel the pressure of Tokyo and Kyoto where we
had limited time and so many possibilities of things to see and do. The kids
liked the sound of a cable car ride so we rode the elevated subway two stops
and then walked the rest of the width of Kobe’s narrow coastal plain to its
northern hills. There we rode up the mountain to a hilltop (400 meters above
the city) herb garden and resort. Like the gardens at Kyoto’s imperial palace
this would have been spectacular in a few months. As it was, we enjoyed the
indoor greenhouses (more Valentine themed decorations) and winding our way down
through the gardens (amidst snow flurries).
For the second half of our walking descent we ventured off
along the many mountain trails past Kobe’s drinking water reservoir and the lovely
Nunobiki Falls. Part of the fun of these outings is that we often run into
others from our ship. At the falls it was a student in one of my classes from
Bosnia and another student we have enjoyed getting to know from Sumatra
Indonesia.
Once down the mountain we set out to find lunch of sushi. I
do not seek after sushi, but it was a must do in Japan. Everyone agreed—and
everyone liked it. We started out with tame omelet sushi and cucumber rolls
along with grilled salmon and grilled eel. Surprisingly the grilled eel was the
favorite which necessitated a follow up order. Everyone but Marie also tried
the raw salmon and/or raw tuna. The second order of raw tuna had wasabi which
caught Joel off guard. His initial response was to spit it out but he toughed
it out and ate it all. Sarah joined me in trying grilled octopus. They were
small enough for one big adult bite, but Sarah’s mouth missed a tentacle so we
all laughed as her eyes widened while chewing with one tentacle hanging out of her
mouth. Chopstick ability improved with each piece of sushi. It takes practice
to dip the hand formed rice loaf and top layer of fish in soy sauce and get it
too ones mouth all in one piece.
We then walked through more of downtown Kobe towards the
water front. There we saw a monument to the 1995 earthquake and the
reconstruction of the heavily damaged harbor area. We then visited the Harbor
Land mega mall. Throughout our Japan stay we had been keeping our eyes open
for a Pokeman store. We had hoped Kobe would have one, but unfortunately it did
not. The mall had a ToysRus store, so Marie had the great idea to check there.
Wallah, it had one aisle dedicated to Pokeman stuff. Joel and Will each found
some fun souvenirs. It was Saturday and the store was packed with young
families with their children. The current demography of Japan is that of an aging
society where many choose not to marry or not to have children. ToysRus did not
represent that demographic reality at all. Nor did the crowded food court and
our next stop of Baskin Robbins—delicious ice cream ordered and served in an
amazingly efficient manner to a long line of patrons. Our final stop in the
mall was a grocery store for between meal snacks on the ship—chocolate was the
common denominator for most of what we bought. We then walked back laong the
water front to our ship. We arrived with 1 ¼ hours to spare before the on-board
deadline. Unfortunately, there were hundreds of others a head of us, which
meant we finally were able to board with two minutes to spare before being
penalized with one hour of delayed departure next port for every 1-15 minutes
you board late. The slow up was a laborious security check to make sure that
no-one smuggled in alcohol (students always try which means all water bottles
must be emptied) or dangerous items (a samurai sword was hidden in one
student’s pants).
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