Kobe (Part 2)

On Saturday, before checking out of the hotel, I enjoyed the free buffet breakfast.  It was crowded, and not as good as the one at Toyoko Inn, but it was not at all bad.  I had some fish, eggs, miso soup, rice, seaweed and bean salad, coffee and orange juice.

After that, I returned to the area around Sannomiya station to get myself oriented.  

First I went to Ikuta shrine (生田神社  -  いくたじんじゃ), which is possibly the oldest shrine in the country. When it was established in the beginning of the third century AD, the shrine possessed much more land than it does now.  The name Kobe comes from an old word for the supporters of Ikuta Shrine.

The shrine itself is smaller than I expected.  There is a nice wooded area behind the shrine with a path, and I expect that many people who live or work in the area take advantage of the small bit of nature in the middle of the city.

Here's some more information about the shrine.

It's a Shinto shrine, so you already know to expect torii gates:

This is the shrine itself.

Here is some of the wooded  area behind the shrine.  There is a large camphor tree here.

After that, it was time to find the hall and the pen show!

The pen show was held in a building that housed several crafty stores, including another Nagasawa store.  The show itself was in a room that was smaller than a high school gym.  Several pen shops had stalls there, there were several beautiful vintage pens on display -- the urushi and maki-e pens that are sadly out of my price range.

There is a pen shop in Okazaki called Takeuchi, and they were there, too.  Many pen shops in have their own extensive line of ink.  The pen shop in Appleton their own line of inks, too, but it has a smaller number of inks.  I was able to buy 2 Nagasawa inks (they limit per-person purchases to be fair to everyone because their inks are that popular) the night before, and bought one ink from Takeuchi.

I also got a gizmo called a hummingbird that allows you to get the last drops of ink out of a bottle into a converter.  There are two types depending on the brand of converter you have.  I got the one that fits Sailor converters.  Sadly, the one that fits Pilot converters only fits the Con-70, of which I have exactly zero.  There is not hummingbird that fits the Con-20, Con-40 or Con-50, which are the Pilot converters that I do have.

I also found an old Platinum short for my hubby.

After wandering around the pen show for a while, I left to explore more of Kobe.

I stopped at Tokyu Hands and miraculously bought nothing.

Kobe has a big Chinatown and Saturday was Chinese New Year.  Let's take a look!

I see Chinese lanterns, so I must be getting closer.

And here's a Chinese gate!  This is it.

It was very crowded.

It seemed like a couple of blocks full of small stands selling the same thing at the same price, with a few shops selling tea, porcelain or other things every so often.  I got a spring roll on a stick and some sort of shrimp flavored puffy fried something.  Meh -- it was cheap enough, but not even hot.

I came across a stage at one point, but nothing was happening then and I wanted to escape the crowd.

I realized I was not too far from the port, and should really take advantage of the sea being nearby. Kobe in on Osaka Bay.

Here are pictures of random buildings that I took on the way.  I love the art deco details that I spotted every so often.

A phone booth that's designed to fit in.

Since Kobe has mountains to the north, and the sea to the south, it was easier than usual to keep track of which direction I was going.

I think this is to sit on for a little bit to catch your breath, but not long enough to be calling it home.

Here is a parklet, with artificial turf.  No trees, though.

Here is map of my walk today.  Junkudo and Nagasawa PenStyle Den are on top of each other, because they are on top of each other in real life.

Kobe was not a city at the time, but the port was one of the first to be opened to trade with the West in the late 1800's.  There are still some buildings from these early European settlements.  Arima Onsen (natural hot spring baths) is also nearby. These are places I'll see on my next trip to Kobe, because there will be a next trip.  It's a very pleasant city with plenty to do and delicious food!

I highly recommend give Kobe a spot on your bucket list.