Advertisement
Published: November 1st 2005
I traveled to Kobe on Friday night to spend the weekend with my lovely Toronto friends Stephanie and Adrian. I met them at the Japanese class I went to at home before I left. They were the perfect host and hostess!
Kobe is a city of 1.4 million people. You might remember, in 1995 there was a major earthquake there which totalled neighbourhoods and killed more than 6000 people. It is because of this earthquake (apparently) that Kobe is home to the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge (3910m) was being built between Kobe (Honshu) and Awaji-shima....but the earthquake shifted the land, and the bridge design had to be changed!
On Saturday we took a train to Himeji (a nearby city), which is famous for the "most splendid Japanese castle still standing". The castle was built in 1580. We walked around the grounds and climbed to the top. As with many Japanese sites, you have to leave your shoes at the bottom and wear the "guest slippers".....these are plastic, and very small!! They need to get some foreigner-sized slippers over here! As with most Japanese castles, it was very plain, simple, yet elagant.
The climb
Adrian and Stephanie walking the castle pathAfterwards we visited Koko-en, which are the grounds beside the castle that were the samurai quaters. Now it is an area of nine gardens to view. It was beatiful....perfect for picture taking!
On Sunday Stephanie and I took a cable car to the top of the Kobe mountain for a view of the city. The view is considered one of the "top three night views in Japan". The Japanese are really into the "top three"....it seems to be a measuring system for just about everything here! The view was indeed spectacular. At the top, we also visited a temple, and saw a traditional tea ceremony demonstration.
A bit of shopping in Kobe, and visiting Chinatown finished a wonderful weekend!
Just to explain the "engRish" in my picture captions....
It is a running joke that Japanese people don't speak English, they speak Engrish. They pronounce the letter "l" like an "r" which explains the "engRish". However there is another level to this.....Japanese people love English words printed on their clothing, on signs...well, just about on anything. However, most of the time it doesn't make any sense at all. Stay tuned for some hilarious Engrish sightings in another blog!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.402s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 13; qc: 81; dbt: 0.0899s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
