The Kobe Comic Shop Adventure

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When we checked into the hotel yesterday we picked up a free magazine about the local area. When Glynn saw an advert for an American comic shop, his eyes lit up like the Tokyo Tower. So today, for want of an easy day, we decided to try and find the place.

At first we had thought the shop was in Osaka as it seemed just a short journey away by JR line. As it transpired, we ended up in Kobe, another city altogether! Now Japan is generally very helpful with having lots of things written in English. One thing they are not so good at over here though is drawing maps for tourists. We have had a few problems before with maps being printed upside down, buildings that we need to use as reference points being positioned in the wrong place etc, and today we encountered the problem of the missing streets.

Walking around Kobe was just lovely - wide streets, a light and airy feel plus we got the feeling not so many tourists go there as we got a lot of curious looks and friendly greetings from the locals. The bottom line is though that we walked for ages trying to find this bloody comic shop and we just couldn't seem to work out where we were going wrong. Thankfully most of where we walked was in the covered shopping area so we were out of the stiffling hot sun for a good chunk of the day. Today has been, without a doubt, the hottest day we've had since we got to Japan, probably around 33 degrees I would say.

As luck would have it, we decided to stop looking and head into a small shopping mall tucked away off one the main shopping area. I say luck because after we had we done a quick tour of the place, we came out the other side and lo and behold, there was a sign pointing us in the direction of the comic shop! A trundle up a dark staircase led us into the land of superheroes that time forgot. It was an excelelnt little shop dedicated more to toys than comics and Glynn was a little disappointed with the selection available.

While Glynn browsed through the shop's meagre stock, I tried my hand at making friends with the store owner by way of a "cool music, is that Ministry?" When I told him that we had come from Osaka to visit his shop, he was quite delighted and before long we were all chatting like old friends. His English improved with his confidence and he later told us about a rock bar in the Namba area of Osaka where all the bands hang out after gigs and kindly found us the location on a map and gave us the phone number. I guess we know what we'll be getting up to this weekend!

After our little geek interlude, we ventured back into Kobe and discovered they had a Chinatown area. Off we went, exploring shop after shop of new and interesting looking foods, drinks and clothing. I know we are still in Japan for a few more days but our attention is slowly being drawn to China, the next stop, so this little detour to Chinatown only fuelled our excitement further.

Tonight, after a bit of a rest, we'll be out in search of a 100 yen shop for dinner. We have been trying to keep within budget but Japan's still on the more expensive side when it comes to food. Although you can eat out at plenty of restaurants anywhere in Japan for less than 7 pounds a head, it's just not something we can afford to do every day. The 100 yen shops are great for cup noodles, snacks and essentials like milk and bread. After that we hope to stop off for a few beers as our hotel is right in the heart of one of the entertainment districts so we'll be able to stagger back to the hotel quite easily!

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