Exploring Kobe

The City

Kobe from our hotel room.

Kobe Beef

Photo from the Wakkoqu guide pamphlet.

We took a recommendation from the Lonely Planet book and went to Wakkoqu. This restaurant appears in many guidebooks and was our place to try Kobe beef. Inside it was busy, and we were the only foreigners so it also looked popular with the locals (always a good sign).

Inside we sat along a long bbq, ignored the prices and ordered up some of the famous beef. The chef then stood in front of us and sliced and diced the meat. We ate as we watched him at work. The meat was something different. Nothing at all like regular beef. The layers of fat gave it a different texture and taste. We dipped the beef into different sauces, rolled it in pepper, or ate it combined with roasted garlic. It was a good night.

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge

Around 20km out of Kobe is one of the most famous bridges in Japan. The awesome construction, the "Akahi bridge". it is nearly 50% bigger than the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and is an astonishing site.

To give you an idea

	Akashi Bridge	Golden Gate
Longest Span	1,991 m	1,280 m
Total Length	3,911 m	2,737 m
Tower Height	298 m	227 m

For Melbournians, The West Gate bridge is 2.5 km long, and feels tiny by comparison.

Going over the bridge. It did not feel like going over a bridge, it did not shake, but was absolutely stunning. The toll though was about $20 each way. Today, as we drove over the bridge twice and then on the Tollway back to Nagoya, we spent around 14,000 yen or about $150 Australian dollars..