- August 22, 2026, Saturday.
- One thing I love about staying in Osaka is the number of day trips I can do from the city! This time, I went westward, and attempted to fit two cities in one day: Himeji and Kobe. They're along the same train line, and I've seen that it is doable do a certain extent. Since I didn't have many days in this trip, I decided to just go with two cities in a day.
- I woke up really early and rode the subway to Shin-Osaka station. I hopped on a Shinkansen to Himeji, which took around 40 minutes. While the Shinkansen (it's the bullet train in case you don't know) is a bit expensive than the regular train, it wasn't too costly since Himeji wasn't too far from Osaka. A regular train would have taken me from 1.5 hours to 2 hours to Himeji Station.
- The way from the station to Himeji Castle was pretty straightforward - a literal straight line spanning several blocks. But because I was saving time and with the summer heat, I booked an Uber that took my to Shiromidai Park. It it one of the places around the palace that serves as a nice photo spot. The park is just around the corner from the castle, and has two "shashihoko" (tiger-fish guardian) that serve was the perfect frame for the castle in the distance. I think I arrived around 8AM and there was literally no one in the photo spot!
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| Yes, that's Himeji Castle at the back!! |
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| Whoever thought of this, thank you. It's such a convenient photo spot for vain people like me HAHA. |
- I later went inside the castle's main gate to take closer photos with the castle. The main gate usually open at a very early time long before the castle itself is open. The castle's third bailey or "Sannomaru" is open and free for people to walk around, and is just before the ticket office.
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| At Sannomaru. |
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| Himeji from the front. |
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| This part is actually the exit, but it's located beside the entrance where people line up to get tickets. |
- I lined up at the entrance half an hour before just so I can get tickets as early as possible. I really wanted to beat the crowds because of time constraints, and because I wanted a more comfortable visit to the castle. Speaking of which, Himeji Castle is one of the finest Japanese castles since it was pretty much untouched since it was made in the 17th century (though earlier iterations were present as early as the 14th century). Its color and appearance remind people of a flying heron or egret, hence the nickname "White Heron/Egret Castle". It is also the largest castle in Japan! The two main areas to visit are the towers and of course, the main keep.
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| At the moat. |
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| On the way to the towers. Also, one thing I noticed is how many photo spots the castle ground has. I didn't run out of good places to take photos!! |
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| From another angle. |
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| And another. |
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| Somewhere in the west bailey. |
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| Hallways. |
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| Princess Sen (Senhime), graddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who lived in the palace before. |
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| At the main keep. This is a shrine for the castle's guardian deity. |
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| One of the castle's shachihoko statues. |
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| A scale model of the castle's skeleton. |
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| More exhibit halls. |
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| Main bailey. |
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| An exhibition on Japanese culture in the castle. objects were used during the parades of the lords in medieval times. |
- The moment I finished seeing Himeji I took no time to book an Uber car to the station, and rode a shinkansen to Kobe. Being halfway between Himeji and Osaka, Kobe was around 15 minutes by shinkansen, or almost an hour by regular train. If by shinkansen, you will alight at Shin-Kobe Station; by regular train, you will alight at Kobe-Sannomiya Station. Between the two stations, Kobe-Sannomiya is at the city center, while Shin-Kobe is a bit north of the city center. For me, deciding to go via shinkansen did not only save me time, but the fact that I have to get off at Shin-Kobe was more convenient because I had intended to start my Kobe sightseeing closer to that station anyway.
- From the station, I had a wise decision to book an Uber because the Shin-Kobe area, as well as the Ijinkan-Gai I wanted to visit were located on a steep hill. Ijinkan-Gai is the area where foreigners stayed in Japan when the country stopped being closed off to the world in the late 1800s in the Meiji Era. Foreigners were only allowed to stay in this area, as it was generally close to the port area. Hence, this area today is filled with European-style houses, most of which have been turned into museums.
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| There's a Porcellino replica at Uroko House! The original statue can be found in Florence, where guests put coins in its mouth for luck, and rub its nose so they can return to Florence. |
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| Uroko House, known for its fish-scale look. It was built in 1905, and it was the first among the houses in the area to be opened to the pubilc. |
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| How residents of the Uroko House lived. |
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| Cozy bedroom! |
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| I love the stained glass! |
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| A red telephone box? Am I back in London? |
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The Weathercock House, former residence of German trader Gottfried Thomas. It is easy to recognize for its rooster wind vane. It has a German-style interior!
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| A replica of the wind vane inside the house. It is a lot bigger than I had imagined! |
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| German-style interior. |
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| Moegi House, built in 1903 as the home of the consul-general of the USA. It is so green that even the interiors are green too!! |
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| See?!!? |
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| The balcony is white and green. |
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| This Starbucks is special because the house it is in is around a century old just like many of the houses in the area!! |
- In the middle of my sightseeing I decided to have lunch before moving to the port. I chanced upon Cafe de Paris, which I thought was just like any other foreign-inspired Japanese cafe. Boy, was I wrong! I was surprised to see a full-French speaking foreign staff. (Because we were just confused as to which language to use, I decided to use French in panic.) I ordered the Kobe-beef steak course, and boy did I have one of the most wonderful meals of my stay in Japan!!!! (Yes, that's multiple exclamation points!!!!) Apart from the tasty salad and refreshing cold zucchini soup, and the delectable mascarpone-based dessert, the kobe beef steak was indeed the star of the show. It was just so tender and it literally could melt in your mouth! -- And of course, Kobe beef was one of the reasons why I went to Kobe!!
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| I took a photo of the main course because it is Kobe beef!! |
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| That is some. tender. meat. |
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| Cafe de Paris, you are tres magnifique! |
- That afternoon I rode an Uber downhill to the port area, a stark contrast from where I was before lunch. The best starting point in exploring the port area is Meriken Park. Originally a port (and remains to be), it also become a portside park in 1987. Interestingly, the name "Meriken" comes from "American", because many American ships would dock there in the past, and also because the US consulate (Moegi House) was near the area. Points of interest in Meriken Park include the "Be Kobe" sign, the Maritime Museum (opened in 1987), and the Kobe Tower. (I didn't enter the tower anymore, and I was really just happy to take a photo of it from the outside).
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| Meriken Park. |
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| Be Kobe! |
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| Kobe Maritime Museum. I super love the roof! |
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| Replica of the HMS Rodney from 1833, England. It was one of the first foreign ships to land in Japan in the 1860s after Japan opened its shores to foreigners. |
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| There was a nice big ship from afar. Photo taken from the museum roof deck, which people can visit to see the view of the port. |
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| Titanic. |
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| Gozabune Atakemaru. This traditional-style Japanese ship takes passengers on a 45-minuted cruis in the bay. |
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| Port area from the other side of the harbor. |
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| Kobe Port Tower was built in 1963 mainly as an observation and sightseeing tower. Would be nice to visit it next time when I have more time. |
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| It has a striking red color. |
- My final agenda for my visit to Kobe was a visit to Nankinmachi, which is Kobe's Chinatown. Like majority of places of interest in Kobe, Nankinmachi finds its roots in the late 1800s, and Chinese immigrants were some of the first foreigners to visit and stay in Japan. The name "Nankinmachi" literally translates to "Nanjing Town", referring to Nanjing (spelled at times as Nanking) where many Chinese came from. Nankinmachi today is known today as a food destination, apart from it being culturally and historically significant.
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| One of the four gates to Nankinmachi. |
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| When I say Japan is hot this time of the year, this is what I meant. See the sun? |
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| I was in time for a lion dance! |
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| I've seen many people try this restaurant for their kobe beef sushi. |
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| Four different grades of beef (they're blowtorched, not raw.) That's tea, not beer, but I know many people who would've wanted beer with their beef. |
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| With the pavilion in the middle of Nankinmachi. |
- I rode my regular train back to Osaka from the Kobe-Sannomiya Station, which was closer to the city center. The trip took maybe half an hour, which wasn't bad since Kobe wasn't far from Osaka. I later had dinner at Kamukura in Dotonbori, because I just can't have enough of their classic ramen!
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| Kamukura. |
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| Home. |
- Visiting Himeji and Kobe in a day was like a marathon because I wanted to do and see so many things. But I guess the benefit of traveling alone is that I know my pace well, and I can make decisions instantly. I couldn't imagine doing this with more people because time was really not my friend that day. I had to forego a couple of things too, but in the end I had no regrets because I was able to experience all the main things in both cities. The downside of this pace, however, is that I wasn't able to feel the pulse of these cities that much since I was in a hurry to go from one place to another. Oh well, an experience for another trip, I guess! But as for Osaka, I wasn't done yet, I had a few more things left before I go back to Manila!
** Check out my other adventures in this Japan trip here!!
Part 1: Osaka and All Super Sentai Exhibition - here
Part 2: Nara - here
Part 4: Osaka Castle, Shiba Inu Cafe, Owl Cafe - here
