Ken's beef in Kobe

With Tuesday came the second day of my adventures in Japan. I accomplished the morning procedures of sending the wife off to work, getting my Japanese breakfast, and doing some research on the computer for our adventures outside of Kakogawa. After a little while I was getting restless being in the hotel room and I set out in search of things to see and stuff to do.

I was feeling like a little zen-touring (a phrase I picked up from my boss Bret). So I hopped on a local train, and decided to head in the opposite direction that I went the previous day. This took me back towards Osaka. A couple stops up the line the train was passing through Kobe. My knowledge of Kobe was pretty much limited to eating Kobe beef so I decided to disembark at the Sannomiya Station.

After getting off the train and exiting the station gates, I was greeted by the enticing aroma of fresh bread. Most of the train stations are surrounded by shops and restaurants. The Sannomiya station had a great little bakery with a cart out front selling fresh croissant sticks covered in honey. I grabbed a couple to snack on and headed out into the city (might I add, I did pay).

The City of Kobe is located at the base of some rolling hills covered in dense foliage. Being a fan of Japanese anime movies, I thought it would be cool to check out the foot hills and see what I could see. As I got closer, I saw a large building nested at the base of the forest, so I headed towards it thinking maybe there was an observation level so I could get a good view of the surrounding area. The building turned out to be the Shin-Kobe Oriental City located at the foot of Mt. Rokko. Upon reaching the base of the tower, I saw signs for the Shin-Kobe Ropeway. For those who read the blog on a regular basis you might remember how much fun Ginger and I had on the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque back in March. So I had to go check out what this Shin-Kobe Ropeway had to offer.

It turns out that the cable car line ascends Mt. Rokko and terminates at the Nunobiki Herb Garden. So for 1200 yen I was on my way up the mountain!

A view of the Shin-Kobe Oriental City (large tower in the lower right) from the cable car.

A view of the Nunobiki Water Falls from above.

The cable cars passed through this building half way up the accent. This is also the point where you re-board for the trip back down after passing through the herb garden.

Inside the building at the halfway point, the cable car doors open automatically and air conditioning units blow cold air inside the cars before sending you on your way.

An aerial view of part of Nunobiki Garden.

The lodge at the top of the lift by the Herb Garden had a perfume museum. This is a replica of an apparatus used to extract rose essence for women's fragrances.

This picture shows some of the Herb Garden beds with workers tending to them. The grounds of the whole park were immaculate.

The garden also had a very impressive green house.

Some flowers in the green house. They were about eight inches in diameter and over a foot in length.

A red flower I thought looked cool.

The array and variety of plants inside the green house was staggering.

Outside of the green house there was a great overlook that looked down on the harbor of Kobe.

Yours truly with the city of Kobe in the background.

The cable car ride and trek through the garden were a great experience. Afterwards, I started heading back to the train station; I had my guide book out looking to see if there were any other must see items in the area. As I was passing the base of the Shin-Kobe Oriental City tower, I glanced up to see this strange site.

I can only guess that one of the wild boars had made his way down from the mountain to end up on the sidewalk. He seemed pretty freaked out and I didn't want to push him into the traffic by harassing him, so I back tracked and found a different way around. When I got down to the sidewalk through another path the boar was gone. It totally reminded me of the boars in the movie "Princess Mononoke".

After a great Japanese mountain experience, I headed back to Kakogawa to see what was in store for the evening with Ginger. Stay tuned...