One thing I really wanted to do during my time in Japan was to eat Kobe beef, it has been built up and built up so much that I really wanted to see if it could live up to its reputation, and there is only one place to eat Kobe beef… Kobe!
Since Kobe is only an hours journey from Osaka by train we headed out there for the day. When Mina's sister heard however she wanted to go there too to meet some friends and so they drove us in the end, which was lovely of them! We got out of the car in Kobe and found it was Hot, Seriously HOT, but a nice place. We found a shopping arcade and wandered along that for a while buying a few things, I bought a new backpack I saw which looked nice and a few other things, including a not great looking, but essential, sunhat!
We then wandered to the port and there is a memorial there to the earthquake they had a decade or two ago. They had left a huge section of the old dock as a garden and not fixed the giant slab of concrete that had cracked and dropped like paper, complete with lampposts and port fittings still attached, amazing the sheer power of the quake. However it was too hot for sitting in the garden so we walked back up to the city center and found a lovely second floor restaurant to have some Kobe beef. It was about £25 a head, and although it wasn't the super super one, well known for its marble like fat all the way through it was still an amazing piece of steak. It melted in your mouth and the taste was just fantastic. Well worth it as an occasional treat.
After that we walked around Kobe center some more, finding the hotel district and a lovely coffee shop there in an old European style with a great cup of coffee, although you really had to pay for it. I've also developed a real taste for their local coffee, everyone from 7-11 to their own brand coffee shops Japanese people make a fantastic cup of coffee!
After we got the train back to Osaka and Mina's sister and her husband picked us up and wanted to show us Osaka castle, we drove over there and then they dropped us off and walked through this huge old castle grounds to a central tower. Alas the original tower was lost in a fire, as large wooden structures before lightening rods were prone to, however they had rebuilt one from pictures and it was huge! We climbed up inside (well, took the lift) and had a lovely view all around of Osaka city. We didn't realize however that Mina's sister was waiting for us on the otherside, so after taking entirely too long looking around we hurried through the carpark and back to the car.
Since the next day Mina's sister and husband were busy they wanted to take me for a meal before I left so asked what I wanted, and I told them I still hadn't had proper sushi in Japan, and so they promised to help me fix that!
They took me to a place near their house that was quite up market and specialized in sushi Osaka style, which is to say huge piece of fish/squid/octopus and tiny portions of rice underneath, the fish was nearly the size of my hand in some cases and still had to be eaten in one mouthful!
The sushi was great, sitting on mats on the floor around a low table and drinking Japanese beer with Mina's brother in law, a good chance to relax and enjoy the best sushi I had tasted!
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