Next up in my recent installations of catching up with my travels - Kobe Harbor!
Before I get into that, I want to quickly talk about my experience the other night of going to a Japanese bar. So in America, the drinking age is 21, so I have never been to a bar or anything. But here, the drinking age is 20...so of course I'm hitting up a Japanese-styled bar. It looks very different from American bars - all the tables are wooden, there are some tatami seating (bamboo mats and cushions with low tables), and it was very lively and rowdy in there. There were no TVs for sports or people trying to hook up like what is typical of American bars. Rather, there were just tables of groups of college students celebrating their Friday nights.
This bar offered tabehoudai (all you can eat) and nomihoudai (all you can drink) for $30. While $30 is a little expensive for one meal, for the amount of food and alcoholic beverages we consumed, it was well worth it. We all ordered rounds and rounds of drinks and tried a bunch of different Japanese drinks we've never tried before. I was able to try some plum sake, lychee wine and sorbet, blueberry wine, and more cute fruity drinks. Also, the food was also delicious. We ordered so much food and were all super full from food and drinks at the end, so it was a $30 well spent. I don't see places like this much in America, so this was definitely a really fun experience.
Back to talking about my trip to Kobe Harbor -
My friend Christian and I met up around noon and started on our journey to Kobe Harbor. It was actually really quick since I already live in Kobe, so by train, it took maybe about half an hour. We wanted to do some shopping and exploring by the harbor, so the first place we went to was a big mall right by the train station.
 |
| The cigarettes are 420 yen in the train station...heh....heh |
 |
| View upon exiting the train station |
 |
| A storm trooper made of Legos! |
 |
| :D |
 |
| Apparently Konami also has gyms |
 |
| My lunch - sashimi (salmon, tuna, yellowtail, crab, shrimp, salmon roe, and uni) on rice with soup on the side (unpoured in the picture) |
 |
| It was delicious and only about $7 |
 |
| We found a Luigi's Mansion arcade machine where you hold vacuums and clear the mansion of ghosts |
Japanese malls are so much fun because there is just so much to look at. We spent some time wandering around the mall and looking at stuff and spent even more time inside of a SEGA arcade on one of the floors. We tried to win a bunch of stuff from claw machines (and failed mostly) and played a couple of games. We also played the most expensive game of Mario Party - basically, it was like Pachinko (the game where you shoot marbles down a board and see where it lands), except with arcade coins and Mario Party. How it worked was that you would shoot an arcade coin inside the machine, and if it lands in the right slot, you would be able to roll your dice on Mario Party and advance. There were mini games and stuff throughout the board, and once you cleared the board, you would get a bunch of arcade coins back.
We did earn a bunch of arcade coins, but we spent it back in playing more Mario Party, so in the end, we won nothing.
I also have to comment on how delicious and cheap food is here. I got a big bowl of rice with a ton of seafood AND soup for only $7. That would easily cost $15 in America, especially with the quality and selection of the seafood. Christian got a Kobe beef gyudon bowl for about $9, which was also super cheap - and the quality of the beef was superb.
Next, we walked around the harbor for more adventures.
 |
| Streets by Kobe Harbor |
 |
| Anpanman museum!! (It's a popular children's cartoon in Asia) |
 |
| Aww, Halloween themed |
 |
| Ferris wheel! |
 |
| Christian feat. Ferris Wheel |
The Anpanman museum was super cute. It also had a mall attached to it. However, it was 500 yen to get into the museum, and it seemed really little children-focused, with slides and playgrounds and character photo ops and such, so we decided to skip it. The mall was also adorable but everything was SO EXPENSIVE. I wanted to buy stuff, but my wallet said hell no.
There was also a big ferris wheel, and it was about $8 to get on, so we had to get on there to see all of Kobe Harbor and get some pictures on the way.
 |
| View from the top |
 |
| Views from the 6 |
 |
| Super beaut |
 |
| Selfie from the ferris wheel! |
 |
| And a shot of the city |
Kobe is a beautiful, beautiful city. I'm glad we rode the ferris wheel because we were able to get a really clear view of the city and the harbor. After riding the ferris wheel, we walked around the harbor shops and did some shopping - where I bought a ton of stuff because I could not resist how cute and great everything was. There were so many character-themed shops - from Rilakkuma to Studio Ghibli to Snoopy to Sanrio. Everything was adorable, and it was hard not to buy everything.
 |
| This red bow headband from Kiki's Delivery Service is a after-shower headband used to keep your hair dry while you wash your face or brush your teeth |
 |
| Totoro chopsticks - I can't resist buying cute chopsticks here! I don't often see chopsticks with designs in America |
 |
| A Kobe Harbor face towel souvenir. I love bears, and I loved that their mascot was Kobear. |
 |
| Two cute kitty bento boxes |
 |
| Matching chopsticks holders for me and Austin :') I'm a sucker for cute matching things |
 |
| Tea/coffee stirring spoons for my mom and I |
Here are a couple of things that I did not buy but were honorable mentions:
 |
| A stencil for making those cute panda rice balls |
 |
| The statue of liberty in hood poses |
I kind of bought a lot of stuff....but worth. Everything is so cute. After all the shopping, the sun was setting, so we snapped a few quick pictures of the harbor before getting dinner.
 |
| The ferris wheel changes colors at night |
 |
| Night view |
 |
| City lights~ |
 |
| Had to get a picture in front of the lights |
For dinner, we went to this popular Japanese burger chain called Mos Burger. I've had Mos Burger before because it's also around in Taiwan, which is where I'm from. I wanted Christian to try it though because it's really good and tastes very different from other burger chains.
 |
| Seafood rice burger, onion rings and fries, and a melon soda |
 |
| My absolute favorite burger - the seafood rice burger |
The seafood rice burger is so delicious. It has grilled rice buns with seafood and veggies grilled in a sweet teriyaki sauce. It's just such a good burger, and I can't get enough of it. Christian got this pork and onions burger with some sweet barbecue-ish sauce, which I haven't tried before, and it was good as well! I wish Mos Burger would start some stores in America...I would definitely go.
After dinner, we were pretty tired from walking around and doing stuff for about 8 hours, so we got back to the train station and went home. I will definitely be back for Kobe Harbor - it was beautiful, and the shopping was plenty.
