Kobe, Japan 2023

• By Barry & Allyn Shulman
• On March 11, 2023
• 2 Comments.

Our ship has been in Kobe for the last couple of days. Many people visited Kyoto, Japan’s cultural capital or Osaka, Japan’s second largest city. Since Allyn is still recovering from surgery, we decided to stay close and take it easy.

I took the shuttle in to check things out in the morning. Like everything else in Japan, the bus was small and tight. After the bus was seemingly full, they put down middle jumper seats which were half the size of the normal small ones and I was lucky to get one. Fortunately, I do not suffer from claustrophobia. Equally fortunate was that I didn’t need to exit in a hurry.

The downtown area was fascinating – so many stores and people, yet so immaculate.

We came back in for dinner during the evening. The city was even more vibrant. We passed so many tiny Japanese restaurants (smaller than the size of our cabin) that had typically one tiny counter with 7 or 8 seated patrons and an equal number standing and squished behind them. Everybody seemed lively and joined each other’s conversations.

We had reserved dinner at an elegant Chinese restaurant, Totenkaku, which required we ordered one of their fixed meals the night before.

Note: Yes, I know Kobe is world famous for their Kobe beef and it happens we are returning next week. Our group of eight already has dinner reservations for a Kobe teppanyaki dinner then.

Today the ship hosted a fancy lunch affair for their Grand Voyage guests ( about 80 of us) at some famous old house turned banquet hall. They provided Geisha entertainment and the works for us.