I’m starting to get used to treating Sunday like a regular day of the week, rather than a day of staying at home, finishing off homework, watching YouTube videos, procrastinating, and Sunday roasts. Oh God, what I wouldn’t give for a Sunday roast.
But no, I really enjoy Sunday being an open day. I went all the way to Kobe today, by myself as everyone else was busy, but it turned out fine.
My first impression of Kobe was:
Wtf, this isn’t Japan
Am I in Liverpool?
That place kinda reminds me of Leeds
Urban yet comfortable
So multicultural
Much port
Such mountain
Wow
My overall impression of the city was… well, really impressed. I love it; I have to go back. Particularly as I didn’t get to do everything I wanted today. Maybe next time I can bring a friend!
Despite me not getting to do everything I’d planned, it didn’t mean nothing happened. Oh no, quite the contrary.
I got off the Hankyu train at Sannomiya, which is the most happening place in Kobe, I’d say. Again, super cheap. Praise thee, Hankyu. The first thing I did was wander around in search of the Kobe Mosque, which for some reason came up as one of the biggest tourist spots on Google. There’s also a synagogue, a Catholic church, a Baptist church and several other religious establishments in the area, but for some reason the mosque was the most popular, so I went along, if anything just to see what a Japanese mosque was like.
Well, it was very pretty, though I suppose the same as any other mosque (obviously smaller than one you’d find in Saudi Arabia or wherever). Thoughts?
I didn’t go inside, though I wanted to. I think there may have been a service on, or tourism wasn’t allowed… I just saw a load of tourists try to go in, taking off their shoes, but then having to put them back on again, so I didn’t go inside, which was a shame. Oh well, I’m not too bothered; if I really want to go inside a mosque I should wait until I visit a primarily Islamic country, probably.
After that (I’d already done a lot of walking around by that point), I went and had a matcha latte in Excelsior Caffé (which made me giggle and think of Al Gore from South Park). It was utterly delicious. I didn’t realize until I sat down that I’d gone and sat in the smoking section… it just happened to be the place with most seats. I didn’t let it bother me too much, but after about twenty minutes I started coughing slightly, so I decided to leave. I actually like the smell of cigarette smoke, but it’s not so great when it mingles with my food/drink. Slightly ruined the aroma of my matcha latte. Oh well.
I then explored Kobe Chinatown, which was really pretty. So many delicious food stalls! But because of my latte I’d filled a hole and didn’t need to eat, so I didn’t sample anything… my bad.
And yes, Spiderman wanted me to eat Kobe beef. How can I say no to Spiderman?
But I figured out today that Kobe beef is basically like veal, as well as being hella expensive, so I’m having second thoughts about trying it. It’s probably quite hypocritical of me to be touchy about how an animal is treated before they’re slaughtered and turned into food for me to consume, but that’s another moral argument for another day. I am going to try to morph into peskatarianism if I can (but it’s hard, when I’ve eaten meat for so long, and I’m only just starting now to feel like I shouldn’t).
Then I decided to be mega-touristy and climb Kobe Port Tower, because why the hell not.
Isn’t the view beautiful? Much more interesting than the view of Osaka, with Kobe being surrounded by mountains. The dock area reminds me a lot of Liverpool. I should explore it properly next time.
I descended from the tower and didn’t have much of a clue of what to do next, except perhaps do some Snapchatting (which I indeed did), but when I sat down by the bay, I saw there was a sign for a “show” in about five minutes, so I stuck around to see what it was, and I’m glad I did.
It was an American street performer, speaking Japanese, and performing all those really old-school magic tricks and juggling tricks. He even had a unicycle. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see his whole performance because it was really cold and so not that many people stayed. He gave me a balloon giraffe, though.
I made a new friend
Anyway, once he started packing up, we got talking, because I was the only other gaijin in the vicinity. I get weirdly excited when I see other foreigners here, which is making me start to think I’m feeling racial pride or something, but it’s not that. Just seeing people casually living their lives in an area that’s not Tokyo, or even Osaka… I get really interested in what led them up to that point. But I guess it’s not really a rare thing for foreigners to be wandering around Japan, especially with an increase of people learning the language every year.
He was from Indiana, and he first came to Kobe as an exchange student in 1995, the year after I was born, which of course explains the age gap. He witnessed Kobe pretty recently after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, I gather.
He was pretty cool. We just stood around and talked for like an hour, nothing particularly drastic. He was really energetic and loud (being American, haha, no I kid), and made fun of my British accent, which I’d been expecting. As a street performer he’d inevitably been to Covent Garden. He let me know the tricks of the trade. He also recommended some “Gaiin Comedy Bars” in both Kobe and Osaka, so I’ll go down and give them a try. Apparently they’re called ROR (Raugh Out Roud). I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did. Oh well. YORO. (You only rive once.)
He gave me his card: Brian Hulse. We have the same initials and amount of syllables in our names, fancy that.
After chatting with him a while, I wandered back in the direction of Chinatown, and got caught in the long procession heading towards the Kobe Luminarie, but I opted not to go through with it as it was already dark and I wanted to try and get some night view pictures from the Shin Kobe ropeway. The Kobe nightview is the best, apparently, so if you go to Kobe, stick around after sunset.
So I walked all the way to Shin-Kobe, (which isn’t too far from Sannomiya, like about twenty minutes along the main road), but when I got there I realized I’d read the opening times wrong on the internet and I’d missed it. It’s open until 20:30 during summer, but it closes earlier depending on the season, and in winter the last admissions are at 16:30, at which time I was still chatting to Brian.
So… yeah, fuck. But never mind, that just gives me more “must do” items on my list for when I next come to Kobe, hopefully soon. I made today up as I went along, and a lot of bouken happens that way.
I waited that long to get on the ropeway because in summer you get a cheaper deal for just a round-trip, but fuck it, I guess I’ll go during the day and enter the garden as well. I think you pass over the waterfall when you take the ropeway, too.
On the side of the mountain there are big luminous letters that light up and spell “Kobe”, and I imagine that’s where the other end of the ropeway is.
Here’s a picture of Ikuta shrine, with the “Kobe” lights in the background, can you see?
Anyway, to try and make that long walk worth it, I went to the top of the Shin-Kobe building (and managed to see a little bit of the landscape, though most of the windows outside the elevator were covered with this annoying plastic that obstructed my view). The bars and cafés at the top were ridiculously expensive though, so I went back down from the 36th floor to the 3rd floor, and had a much more agreeably-priced beef udon dish. Being in Kobe turned me into a carnivore. (Sorry, Rachel.)
It was utterly delicious, but I was too enthusiastic and ate it right when it was steaming hot, and I think I burnt off the surface of my tongue. Ow, ow, ow. Having hot tea on the side definitely didn’t help.
Then, after that fun day full of bouken, the unthinkable happened.
I was walking back to Sannomiya (it was only about 7pm, but I wasn’t sure what time the buses from Kita-Senri stopped running on a Sunday, so I wanted to leave early to be sure), and I was walking across the pedestrian bridge over this major crossing, when I heard this horrible screeching skid, and then a thump. When I looked over the edge, I saw a motorcycle knocked over, indicator light still blinking, and the rider lying motionless underneath it. They were completely still. No movement at all.
Immediately, a bystander on the side of the road ran out beside the cyclist, to see if he was alright. Gradually, more people from the side of the road ran over to him to try and help him. A traffic warden gave one of the bystanders a red light to wave in order to guide cars around the accident. One of the guys called an ambulance, took off the cyclist’s helmet, and tried to wake him up. Still no movement. I couldn’t see any visible injuries from where I was. They then started performing CPR, and I was still unsure if this was actually happening.
By that point, I’d been standing on the pedestrian bridge for twenty minutes, and I’d surely missed a couple of trains. The last I saw was of the ambulance carting the cyclist off, still to no avail.
So. I may, or may not, have seen someone die today.
There’s really no other way I can put it. You’re just having a fun little bouken by yourself in another Kansai city, enjoying life as a foreign exchange student, when suddenly, you’re reminded of your mortality, and thinking about the life, family and friends of someone you’ve never met, and never will get to meet.
I wasn’t sure whether I was doing the right thing, just openly staring from the bridge. Some other people stopped and stared too, then continued with their business.
I felt rude for staring, but…
a) How could I not stare, when I was worried about whether they were going to be alright or not?
b) I’d never witnessed such a thing before
c) I couldn’t stop what I was doing and go over to help in any way, being too far away, and there was already far too big a crowd of people gathering round the body(?) and involving themselves in the incident
d) Perhaps it would have been more rude to look, then continue on with my own business?
If you happen to know the proper etiquette for dealing with a potential death from a helpless bystander point of view for next time, let me know.
If I’d been right next to him, I’d obviously have gone to help, despite my limited Japanese. And I know the Japanese emergency number (119), so I’d have been able to call an ambulance. And I knew whereabouts we were, or at least I could accurately describe the place we were. But my help wasn’t needed. I feel bad for not doing anything, though.
At the same time though, I felt oddly detached. I thought I’d feel more traumatized. In a way I am, but maybe it’s because I was still at quite a distance, it didn’t feel quite so personal. It was like I was watching a movie, only less dramatic. From where I was standing, the people were standing far away enough to just be part of the background.
And I obviously walked away at some point, as I still had a life to lead. I saw the ambulance coming, so I left. I didn’t see the paramedics performing anything.
e) Can staring be considered rude? Can leaving at what you deem an appropriate point be considered rude, like the most interesting part of the show’s over?
Well, it was a weird experience.
f) I gather I’m extremely insensitive towards the concept of possible death if it doesn’t directly concern me, despite me having a tendency to feel compassion for people I’ve never met. All I can say is, “I feel weird”, “that was a strange experience” and make it about myself. Just having a day in Kobe, then oh, shit, some guy just had to go and die.
That’s not what I mean at all.
I feel bad, of course I do, but I wonder if most of the guilty feeling comes from me not feeling that guilty. A guy may have died on the side of the road, and I feel like I should feel something more than I’m feeling.
Well… Kobe was definitely an interesting place to visit… and I’d like to go again… and I certainly experienced things one doesn’t usually experience in one’s lifetime… oh Christ, what I am I going on about.
I have nothing more to say.
Goodnight.
naiveinnippon 