We were around 120+ people travelling to this conferance from my company. It was fun travelling together in such a large number! We occupied nearly 1/3 of Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. We reached Osaka and took a bus to Kobe. The roads were amazing! They were narrow (too narrow when compared to some US expressways or even some Indian highways), but the traffic flowed smoothly and fastly. We resided at the Hotel Okura Kobe, one of the finest Hotels in Kobe with 33 floors. I got a room on 22nd Flr. There was a note in my room saying please dont panic if you feel that the building is swaying a little. It is build that way to withstand earthquakes upto a certain richter scale.
Kobe city view from my window - night and day
Now came the food part. Most of us were vegetarians and we were really worried about getting vegetarian food in Japan. But to our surprise the food was manageable. I used to have some starters which consisted of boiled vegetables, little rice (rice is sticky) and then feast on the desserts!
The Japanese are very punctual. One morning I came in a little late for breakfast and a session was about to begin at 9am. I came to the dining area around 8:50 and thought I could atleast grab a sandwich. But the dining room was deserted and the last person in there just left! The waiters there gave me a stare and I fled with just a glass of juice ! I found the Japenese to be freindlier than the western people and though the language was a barrier they expressed themselves quite well. Oh.. how can I forget their "bow"! At first I didn't know how to react when people bowed to me.. finally I too started bowing like a Japanese :)
We were taken on a half day tour to Rokko mountains and a sake brewery. Our guide spoke good english and thanked the Indians for 2 things, first - Buddhism and second was delicious Indian food especially curry. We first visited Rokko mountains. On the way I saw how Japensese eifficiently manage their city with so little land. They have well connected railway, sleek flyovers, smooth narrow roads, high (not very high) apartment complexes close to each other. The roads, flyovers and railway tracks are stacked over each other. No space is left wasted. They even have managed to plant few trees on road sides with few tiny gardens here and there. Some houses even have terrace gardens!
Fall colors - Rokko mountains and Sake bottles
Rokko mountains is just behind the Kobe town. These mountains were bare 100 years back and caused a lot of landslides. Then the japanese planted trees in the entire mountain range to prevent landslides and increase green cover. The mountains are now covered with forests and during fall time the entire forest is in shades of yellow, orange and red. For a change it's amazing to see the reversal of environmental destruction! Rokko mountains boasts the first golf ground in Japan. It also servers as a weekend getaway for city folks and trekkers.
We later visited a sake brewery. Sake is a alcoholic bewerage prepared out of rice with an alcoholic content of 14-16%. It comes in several flavors. I tasted a sake with plum flavor, it was very good but strong :)
Ikuta shrine & Nankin machi
We visited many shopping arcades, temple and Kobe port during next few days. The Ikuta shrine is possibly the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan. It is a beautiful shrine with red color used tastefully. Nankin Machi is China town in Japanese. It is a street filled with fresh chineese food (living creatures cooked in front of you) and some chineese stores. Suresh and I being vegetarian Brahmins had nothing to relish. Motamachi Arcade is nice shopping place. We bought kimonos, jewelry and shoes. We then found a 100yen shop. This place is worth visiting, it sells everything from gardening tools, cutlery to japanese fans!
Merikan park, Kobe port
Later in the evening we headed towards the Kobe Port. On one side are the illuminated Port Tower, Merikan Park, Hotel Okura Kobe and Oriental Hotel and on the other is a huge Ferris wheel. We took a ride on the Ferris wheel. The view from top was awesome, we could see the glittering Kobe city.
We visited the Maritime museum the next day. It houses a collection of ship models and also the Kawasaki museum. Kawasaki museum displays the prominent Kawasaki products over the lifespan of Kawasaki. There are also some cool bikes displayed there.
Nxt Gen bike model at Kawasaki museum FT(white robo) with robo creator
During our conference, we once had a talk from Tomotaka Takahashi, the robot creator. He creates robots singlehandedly. He has developed the first female robot named "FT". The FT catwalked till the edge of the table and came to a stop with her hand on her hip! The audience was awestruck. Walking like a human... more so walking like a woman is very difficult to achieve in robots. More info http://www.robo-garage.com/english/robo/index.html
Overall my Japan trip good and I look forward to visit this country again. The next time I would definitely visit the Fuji mountains and take a ride on the bullet train! Seonara till my next post.. which I assure will be sooner than the next appearence of the Halley's comet.
Interesting definition of Japan on wordweb: A string of more than 3,000 islands east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean
