Shopping in Kobe

Needing a bit of an urban fix, Laura and I traveled into Kobe one Sunday morning. It's not easy to get anywhere from where we are living. The trip to Kobe requires a 30 minute walk down the hill to a bus stop and a 60 minute bus ride into Kobe. It is a lovely ride though. The island of Awaji, if not for the terraced rice fields and funny roof lines, could pass for one of our Puget Sound Islands...lots of water all around and lush green hills. Shopping in a foreign city is always a challenge, and even more so when you can't possibly decipher the language. Since neither of us is afraid to ask for directions, three times if necessary, we were able to get everything on our shopping list and then some.

A view of Kobe from inside Starbucks.
We asked a barista for help in finding a shop. He made us a map and told us to come back if we had any difficulty finding what we were looking for.
Everyone is so polite and helpful here!

We stopped in at a pharmacy and I found an interesting collection of weight loss products. From what I've seen the Japanese don't come in chubby.

The grocery store always yields an interesting assortment of delicacies.

Some streets in Kobe put us both in mind of the movie Blade Runner.

Kobe also has an interesting assortment of hatch covers.

This photo was taken from a bus window b our co-resident, Levi-san.
That's Laura and me on the left. Our ticket was for the next bus so we walked down the street for a little glass of sake. It was a very fun day.