Kobe, we’ve got the beef! - to the tune of the Arby’s jingle
I never visited Kobe when I lived in southern Japan previously. Back then, it was a bit of a drive and all I ever heard was about the amazing steakhouses. I have never been a big steak person, and wrote it off completely.
Recently, David, Naomi, and I took a train into Kobe to go hiking (a common theme you’ll find amongst our travels). The original objective was to hike from the Shin-Kobe station to the Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens and Ropeway via the Nunobiki Falls trail. First, we got to the Shin-Kobe station and went down to the first floor, went out a door, went up what looked like an area for taxis with no sidewalks. Then suddenly we were at the foot of a mountain with a pathway trailing upwards by a river. Not the most obvious start to a hike I’ve ever seen.
Despite the hidden start, Nunobiki Falls trail is like most other Japanese trails we have encountered – well maintained and with sporadic restrooms and shrines or temples. The waterfall is rather close to the beginning of the trail, and is stunning, cascading into a second waterfall over a spillway. I would say the only thing it lacks of Minoo Park, which I’ll describe in more detail in an Osaka post, is the lack of seating with lemon beer on tap. We visited the unmanned Toko-in Temple, and made our way all the way to the Nunobiki Reservoir, which provides drinking water for Kobe below. At that point, we took another trail that was a bit off the beaten path and into the slightly more spidery forests of Japan in search of the gardens. After trekking along and through bushes (which is unusual for Japanese trails), we popped out in front of the gates… to find that the gardens were closed for emergency maintenance.
Somewhere along the line, we had lost Naomi, and were determined to meet up again on the one-way trail. Somehow, we did not. Knowing David and I, this should not be all that surprising. We came down the mountain and somehow found ourselves in a neighborhood in northern Kobe. This is when it struck me just how nice Kobe is. Known for its cattle industry, it’s a port city with pretty major foreign influence tucked into a steep valley. Due to the surrounding mountains, the metropolis cannot sprawl that far, but it has the feeling of a city with high-rises and even its own Shinkansen station, which no small town could brag about. However, it also feels cozy and intimate with a Coco’s Curry not a far walk from a verdant, tranquil forest. The little neighborhood we got lost in was peaceful, some buildings covered in ivy looked like they weren’t convinced if they were supposed to be part of Kobe or the surroundings.
We did manage to find out way to Berthier to meet Naomi for lunch (or dinner, time has really been irrelevant to our eating schedules). They had delicious sandwiches with homemade focaccia. I would absolutely recommend the place. In very Japanese fashion, lunch also included one of a variety of vegetables, which is always entertaining.
After eating, we meandered through Kitano-cho Ijinkan, a part of Kobe known for its Western style buildings. Prior to the Meiji Era, sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, Kobe was opened to foreign trade and thus foreign influence. There are a significant number of foreign style buildings here and even a foreigner cemetery.
At the time foreigners could only live in designated areas where they could rent houses and property from Japanese and in Kobe that area was Kitano-cho in Kobe’s Chuo Ward. During the Meiji and Taisho eras foreigners who lived there at that time built many Western-style homes and thus this area came to be called the Kitano Ijinkan-gai. ”Ijin” was the word first used to mean ”foreigner” and “gai” means “area”. Source: https://livejapan.com/en/in-kansai/in-pref-hyogo/in-kobe_sannomiya_kitano/article-a2000048/
In that area, there is a very cute Starbucks. I typically try to avoid chains on travel, but sometimes a hankering for mocha wins. It’s also very nice that the Starbucks is built into a Western style home with seating on both floors. It was built in 1907 for an American resident named M.J. Shay and has retained its homelike qualities despite the new ownership. David and I later returned to actually get coffee and write letters, since we didn’t have the time on our first trip.
In the same neighborhood is Kitano Tenman Shrine, which has a plum blossom garden, but it was obviously not in season at the time. This shrine is the first to enshrine an actual person as a diety, Sugawara no Michizane, which was known as a god of academics.
Sometime later, we three decided to head back to Kobe to finish what we started and see the gardens. This time we opted to use the ropeway, partially because we had already done the hike and partially because we were really curious about the ropeway’s views having walked under it for several kilometers up the mountain before. A hike that had taken us hours took approximately thirteen minutes by cart. The views were breathtaking. You could see the emerald forest, Kobe, and the coastal port.
At the top, we explored Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens, which were very neat and beautiful. They had a very interesting food garden with a ton of edible flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. They had a few old European style outdoor kitchen setups that were neat. Next to the greenhouses were a Veranda café and a little museum of herbs and scents. The Veranda café sold locally made interesting teas from dandelion to rose.
After leaving the gardens, we didn’t turn back down the mountain. Instead, Naomi suggested a temple and café further onto the trail. We made our way towards Futabi Park and lake, stopping at Dairyuji Temple. The temple still has both Buddhist and Shinto practices; the divorce of the two occurred sometime around 1868. I’m not entirely sure why, but I would love to do a deep dive into that in the near future. As it is in this day and age, a person is supposed to keep separate goshuincho (stamp books) for each religion. So, it’s very interesting that the temple has both. They also did not appear to get many foreign visitors, and were very kind to us and gave us tea and snacks. Just before we went to leave, they also gave us mushroom tea, which was more of a soup than a tea, and it was absolutely delicious (David note: it was at this point I decided to needed to practice my Japanese and ask to buy two containers of the mushroom tea. Two because I refuse to share. I also may have scared a large child by being a foreigner). I’m assuming that the lack of foreign visitors was due to its seclusive location, where tourists probably won’t go, but it had a large hall and obvious signs of hosting large events, so I’m certain it is a popular temple for the area.
There are two “cafes” on the trail to Futabi Park. Naomi had suggested Café and Bar Takibi Neko, which looked adorable, and I was enthusiastic to visit after seeing a few pictures of Shiba in their online reviews. At first, it didn’t seem like we would find it. We went up to the lake and found the first café, a shack along the shoreline that served coffee and other delicious looking drinks. Since everything had dairy and David is unfortunately weak, we continued south of the lake. The trails and Google aren’t exactly friends, but we did manage to find Takibi Neko and it was incredible! Two little wooden buildings tucked into the woods (I think one was a bar and the other the restaurant). Both are dog friendly and full of dogs and people. The owners appear to have a Shiba or two that also reside on the property and are very cute and social. They also host monthly bonfires. It was a very cute and cozy place and I would love to live close enough to frequent it.
Those were our two major trips to Kobe. David and I at a later time also stopped by the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, which was cute. It was a small sake museum that illuminated the process of creating sake with real like size models and equipment. Little TV screens set up throughout the space had options to describe each part of the process in Japanese or English. At the end of the museum, you can sample different sakes, and buy them if you want. I really just like Japanese museums with their models of fake food and realistic scenes of times long past. It feels very immersive. I have to agree with David though that the modern process of sake distillation has come a long way since its origins and has become, while a lot less labor intensive, a lot less personable.
10/10 – Kobe, it’s more than just the beef.
For those who don't know, Kobe is known for its beef because of the cattle conditions and requirements of Hyogo prefecture Japan, where the city is located. "Kobe Beef" is even sold in the United States, though it is typically not authentic.
Commentaires