Kawasaki Good Time World in Kobe, Japan

When you think of the name Kawasaki, you probably think jet skis or motorcycles. And while that's about all the consumer ever gets to see, they are responsible for ships, industrial plants, ATVs, tractors, trains, and aerospace equipment.

 Kawasaki is named after its founder and has no connection to the city located near Tokyo. Originally, Kawasaki comes from Kobe. Kawasaki Good Time World isn't much of a "world" as it is a museum devoted to the history and machines of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

 The museum is made for kids, but is educational as much as a company's historical museum can be. You'll see how robots work...

 You'll see jet skis and learn how they work...

 You'll see once-cutting-edge-science and history...

 And motorcycles...

 And motorcycles...

 And motorcycles...

 And motorcycles. Japan loves its two-wheeled vehicles. And as you could see in one of the pictures above, you can sit on a couple and get a feel for them.

 You can play with switches and explore a bullet train. Kawasaki is Japan's largest builder of rolling stock, from commuter trains to shinkansen.

 Here's an oxygen capsule. I could be happy taking a nap in there.

 How about the latest in local transportation technology? In addition to traditional trains, Kawasaki builds monorails and emerging technologies.

 Robotics!

 Helicopters!

 You can't sit in the cockpit here (what a shame) but you can get a good look inside.

 Inside a small plane.

 Because Japan loves trains more than motorcycles, there's a large model layout that you can operate, too.

 Here's the city at night! For an adult, this is a moderately fun museum that'll take about 30 minutes to go through. But for younger children especially, the ability to interact with many of the displays means this museum really lives up to its name. Now if only they'd let you take the motorcycles for a spin, take a nap in the oxygen capsule, or ride the jet ski out on the harbor!

Admission to Kawasaki Good Time World is included in admission to the Kobe Maritime Museum, which is 600 yen. It's open from 10:00-17:00, closed on Mondays. View the link to the Maritime Museum for more details on access and surrounding sights.

(You Can't Really) Strike a Pose at the Kobe Fashion Museum

 I don't claim to know a whole lot about fashion, but I enjoy looking at it. I think it would be fun to dress up in period costumes and reenact old customs sometime. You know, historical cosplay. (I'm not talking about Civil War reenactments. Those might be fun too, though.) And while I don't put much thought into my personal fashion choices, I'm admiring or critiquing fashion trends I see on the streets.

image from Kobe Fashion Museum. Note that the museum's layout can change based on the special exhibition content.

The Kobe Fashion Museum's permanent collection display is a sort of Fashion 101, starting with a "History of Fashion" line of clothing along one long wall, with the remaining space divided up into techniques, designers, materials, colors, and structures. A final area has reproductions of the clothing worn at Napoleon I's coronation ceremony. Most of the clothing in this display is modern reproductions, but seem to be authentically constructed... at least, as far as a layman can tell.

Before entering the permanent exhibition, you see the special exhibition hall. On my visit, it was was packed with shoes designed by Takada Kisa. I don't know who that is, but the collection was fairly complete and showed shoes ranging from simple sandals and work shoes to high heels and boots. The museum's website shows other special exhibitions which look like they would have been/are/will be pretty interesting for those who admire clothing.

The museum might be a pilgrimage point for fashion designers given their library of fashion-related holdings, but for average people, unless you're already in Kobe, as I was, you probably won't come out here for a visit.

The Kobe Fashion Museum is located in this spaceship-themed building on Rokko Island. Admission is 500 yen, including both the special and permanent exhibitions. Hours are 10:00-17:00 except Wednesdays. It's located a little out of the way. Take the JR line to Sumiyoshi Station or the Hanshin line to Uozaki Station, and transfer to the Rokko Liner. Get off at Island Center Station and head south-east toward the giant UFO.

The Kobe Fashion Mart is nearby but has limited shopping as far as clothing goes. It seems like there are several stores for interior designers and a few stores for tailor-made suits. There's an art museum, the Koiso Memorial Museum, which mainly has works by Ryohei Koiso, a local artist. I haven't visited it, but there are some very good reviews online.

Meriken Park and Kobe Maritime Museum: If nautical nonsense is something you wish...

It should be no surprise that the Kobe Maritime Museum has a boat-centric collection of artifacts. The building is located in Meriken Park, a waterfront park in the port area of Kobe. Not only is it located there, it's right in the middle. Meriken Park was destroyed by the 1995 earthquake, but it has been redeveloped and is a very popular spot for tourists and locals alike. On my visit, there was a flea market in a nearby parking lot and some sort of family event with lots of food and beer stands plus a stage with a bunch of (amateur?) pop-idol performances.

 The building is designed to resemble a ship, with steel "sails" in white steel. Half of the museum is related to shipping, with the other half being another museum. You'll have to wait for that.

 The 'sea side' has large and small artifacts from ships old and new.

 The first floor has exhibits about the port and how it functions.

 There are also models of modern ships and a good bit to learn about shipping.

 Heading upstairs, you'll see more historically-based exhibits, including the history of the port and its connection to the rest of Japan and the world.

 The educational exhibits are great, but I really enjoyed the room full of large models. The cruise ships were surprisingly my favoites.

 I've never been on a modern cruise ship, so getting to explore one - in miniature form, from outside - was a lot of fun.

 That deck looks like a nice place to work on your tan. Those people seem to be having a good time at the pool.

 This ship has a tennis court! I guess many of them do. And there's a water slide!

 There's an old ship inside the building's entry, as well as a few outside the museum. I'm not sure what happened to those pictures right now. English signage inside the museum is decent, but sometimes I felt like I would have liked to have more.

Just outside the museum is Kobe Tower. Does every city in Japan have a tower with an observation deck? This one is fairly unique, unlike the several towers that look similar to the Eiffel Tower. It was built in 1963 and is 108 meters tall. There's a restaurant and rotating cafe on a couple floors and observation decks on the rest.

Meriken Park is also where you can board sightseeing cruises around the bay. One to two hour cruises run between 1100 and 3300 yen. Look for the terminal just west of Kobe Tower. The east side of the park has a small memorial to the 1995 earthquake with some preserved ruins.

Admission to both sides of the Maritime Museum is 600 yen, and admission to Kobe Tower is 700 yen. A ticket for both the museum and the tower is only 1000 yen. The museum is open 10:00-17:00, closed on Monday. Kobe Tower is open 9:00-21:00.

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Meriken Park is 10 minutes south of Motomachi Station.

Harborland, a shopping, restaurant, and entertainment district, is just across the cruise terminal - head toward the Ferris wheel. There are two small shopping malls with lots of places to eat and a new Anpanman museum. Anpanman is a famous children's cartoon character here.

And Kobe Chinatown, a small district with lots of shopping, restaurants, and food stands, is five minutes north, halfway between Motomachi Station and Meriken Park. Chinatown has a lot of typical Chinese foods, like ramen, steamed buns, and tapioca drinks, though many of the things found here, like elsewhere in Japan, have been tweaked to cater to Japanese tastes.

A Glimpse at the Kobe City Museum

 Opened in 1982, the Kobe City Museum combined an archaeological museum and an art museum into one. It's full of historic maps and artifacts related to international trade. Plus, there is lots of Namban (Southern Barbarian) art dating back to the 1500s.

 Out front is an opening showing a small bit of history: an old water pipe discovered just beneath the street next to the museum.

Nearby is an old western house that I believe now serves as a tea house or cafe. It's a historical building that has been preserved and repurposed at the same time.

I haven't been able to visit yet, but it is still on my to-do list. It was closed when I was in Kobe, but I wanted to share the few pictures I took while I was passing through.

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Kobe City Museum is about 10 minutes from Motomachi and Sannomiya Stations, near Meriken Park, which has a few more touristy things to see and do and a small earthquake memorial. There are also a couple subway stations nearby which might be more convenient based on your approach. It's open 10:00-17:00 (closed Mondays), and admission is only 200 yen. I understand that there is very little English signage.

Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum: Shaking is a Part of Life in Japan

 Located along the waterfront in a newly developed district east of Kobe's center, the Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum opened in 2002 to commemorate the event and educate visitors about earthquakes and preparedness and disaster prevention.

 The building itself is quite attractive and I understand it is built to be very earthquake-proof, despite all that glass.

In case you don't know or don't remember, on January 17, 1995, at 5:46 AM, Kobe was hit by the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake, a 6.8-magnitude quake only 20-km away from the city. It caused massive destruction, with 22% of buildings in Kobe destroyed, most train lines out of commission, and 1 km of the elevated freeway having collapsed.

This earthquake was about the same as the Northridge earthquake in intensity and proximity, but due to older building techniques on many of the structures in town, Kobe suffered much more. 150,000 buildings were destroyed and over 6000 people were killed. Electricity, transportation, water, and pretty much everything else was cut off to the city and many of the surrounding suburbs.

 Your tour of the museum starts with a video recreation of the earthquake. You'll see images of what it was really like to live through that event. I've been through the slightly-stronger Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, and I know what it felt like. And while I remembered a bit of what I had seen in America after the earthquake, I originally thought the video was being overly dramatic, similar to a movie that might be found on a cable TV network or sold as straight-to-DVD.

But after the video and a walk through a simulated Kobe street right after the quake, you enter the main display area of the museum. And it is full of artifacts and photos from Kobe. I was really surprised seeing some of the photos of real destruction, exactly like I had seen in the movie. That's when you realize that the destruction from this earthquake was so much worse than the one I had experienced in California.

 You can stop at one of the dozens of information screens throughout the area, too. Sometimes these have testimonials or video footage. Others teach about preparedness. One theme I found throughout the museum is the need to be prepared for self-sufficiency after an earthquake. Without gas, electricity, or water, no means of transportation, crowded emergency rooms and a lack of support due to limited manpower, the communities worked together to provide for each other and help people survive. And this togetherness continues on today, helping elderly people and children (including 68 orphans and 332 children who lost one parent) left alone or afraid after the quake, and unable to function.

Despite the sadness of the event, the museum serves to tell a positive story: preparedness and togetherness help save lives. And while the museum can be moving at times, it helps those who have never experienced a major earthquake really get a feel for what it is like - and I don't mean the shaking itself. I found myself frequently reflecting back on my experiences in California and what I would do - or just be able to do - if I experienced another major earthquake.

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The museum is open 9:30-17:30 or later (closed Mondays), but you have to arrive one hour before closing (and at a minimum it will probably take you that long to watch the movie and explore the museum). English language is decent, and there are tons of guides on hand to answer any questions you have. Admission is 600 yen. You can get to the Earthquake Museum from Iwaya Station on the Hanshin Line, a 10 minute walk away. There are several large buildings in this area, some with shopping and entertainment options, others with offices.

The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art is a couple buildings down, which I wish I had been able to visit. It, too, opened as part of the rebuilding efforts in Kobe and is a very large contemporary and modern art museum.

And after all that, I think it's time for something really upbeat. Maybe you've seen this - it's been out a year. And it has over 100 million views. But it's still fun.

A Morning Sip of Sake at Hakutsura Brewery, Kobe

 There's sake, and there's good sake. It's brewed in a process somewhat similar to beer, though it isn't carbonated. Local differences in water, rice, methods, and other ingredients makes for a good variety of flavors and styles, similar to different styles of beer. 

 In the past two-plus years, I've developed a bit of a taste for sake, though like wine I can drink it only in small quantities at a time. I've only bought two bottles of sake: one during summer vacation in 2013, and one during Golden Week (spring break) in 2013. Both came after tours of sake breweries which have been turned into museums.

 Hakutsura Brewery is located in Kobe, a fairly unusual place to make sake. Apparently it requires cold temperatures to be fermented properly, something historically found in the hills of the Tohoku region, not central Japan. But conditions here are right and the sake from Hakutsura is my favorite to date. Not that I have a lot to go on.

 I arrived mid-morning to tour the traditional brewery, which as I mentioned is now a museum.

 Not only will you find equipment, but a few mannequins are shown interacting with the equipment to give you a better idea of how they were used.

 The downstairs area shows the first stages, while most of the upstairs is devoted to the finishing touches.

 There are lots of barrels for storage and aging here! The basic steps in brewing sake are as follows: first, polish the rice to remove unwanted flavors, then, wash, steep, and steam the rice essentially the same way it is cooked for food. This is when you make koji, shubo, and then moromi - via the fermentation process. The fermented sake is pressed and filtered, then stored in a cold place to mature and then be bottled.

 Sake traditionally was provided in casks like you see in the background of the two left-hand pictures. This style of packaging is still used for special occasion sake, though over time it's been packaged in jugs and now bottles similar to wine.

 Sake is traditionally served in square wooden boxes, though these days there are a variety of ways to drink it. You might be given sake in a shot glass, but I've been served sake in small glasses similar to whiskey glasses too.

After walking through the museum, you can taste several varieties for free, and of course buy a few bottles and some traditional snacks. Here, you can taste fresh, unpasteurized sake, and I think it can be purchased but you should plan on drinking it quickly.

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Admission is free, and the brewery is open 9:30-16:30 (last admission 16:00, closed for New Years and summer holidays). It's about a five minute walk south from Hanshin Sumiyoshi Station, down some smaller side streets. The entrance is on the south side; look for the sign shown in my first picture. The modern brewery is located behind the original building that is now the museum, but it's off-limits. For a look at a somewhat modernized sake brewery, head to Aizu-Wakamatsu and visit the Sake Museum (which also lets you try sake for free).