Kobe

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We caught a shinkansen to Kobe where we met with Shingo, a family friend that is currently living in Tokyo but is from Australia and joined us for a day trip. Our first destination was Mt Rokko, where like Hakone, a few methods of transportation had to be taken to get to the top. We caught a local train, then a bus, then a cable car and then another bus.

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We then saw sight of snow! I hadn’t seen snow in a very very very long time. Made sense as the weather up the top of the mountain was insanely freezing.

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We then tried to head to a Kobe beef restaurant for lunch. All the cheap and quality restaurants were packed with tourists and tour groups that created waiting lines of over a few hours long. We decided to call up one restaurant that actually did take reservations (Wakkoqu) and luckily, we scored the last 3 seats for the day.. and we only had to wait 20 minutes. Lucky lucky!!

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Although the portions were small, it was absolutely delicious. Everything – vegetables, steak, ice cream.

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Apparently this is the most famous Starbucks in Japan.. not sure why. Perhaps because it is in a merchant home.

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We then strolled around the merchant village – where many foreign merchants once resided in lavish, luxurious residencies. We didn’t bother paying to go into any of them, didn’t really interest us too much.

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I did enjoy a show by a busker that had exceptional acrobatic skills. I also paid a local artist to sketch a drawing of Bun Bun onto a wooden pendant.

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We then headed to the port side to take a night view of the ocean and Kobe’s Meriken park.

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Before we caught the Shinkansen, we stocked up on Kobe goods to enjoy on the train and to give as gifts back home. I stuffed myself with Kobe’s renowned caramel pudding and cheesecake.

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