Kobe

Following Osaka, I decided to take advantage of my JR Pass and made the short train trip to Kobe (pronounced koh-bay). I’m not an incredibly carnivorous person, but I’ll admit, I only stopped here for the beef. I dropped $90 on one meal but there is no other time (at least for a long time) in my life when I will have the opportunity or the willingness to do that so…I pulled a Nike and just did it. It was absolutely worth it.

I did a little beef research online and found a couple of restaurants that seemed like they were serving the real stuff and created a dining experience. My frugal heart wanted to make the most of this, for the sake of my stomach and my wallet. I went for lunch to cut the costs a smidge. The place I landed on, Ishida, normally requires a reservation. I pushed my luck and arrived, sans-reservation. When I knocked on the door, the gentleman hesitated, then went and asked the chef if they could squeeze in one more person. He only left for a couple of minutes but I was sweating as I waited thinking, “wHaT HaVE I doNe?!?! Now I’m committed. If he comes back and says yes, I can’t just say ‘actually…nevermind…too expensive…’ I have to spend this ridiculous amount on some stupid steak.” He came back and said yes. I gulped down my second thoughts and savored the 3-course experience. That is the moment when I learned that it is ok to indulge yourself sometimes and let go of the backpacker budget mindset. Kobe beef is so tender you hardly even need to chew it. And I made the chef laugh. It was an all around exceptional meal…which is even more obvious to me now as I’m writing about it nearly 6 months later and my mouth is watering.

Now it’s your turn to drool.

And here are some pictures of Kobe. Turns out it’s a large port-city. In my head it was a small village. I don’t know where that image or expectation came from, but it’s nice to surprise myself and debunk false presumptions.

While walking around I visited a temple dedicated to love prayers and got my “love fortune.” You just pluck a blank piece of paper and put it in the fountain, and then invisible ink appears to reveal secrets about your fate in love. It’s the Seventeen Magazine of temples but it was a lovely and giggly experience. I asked the girl selling them to read it to me because it’s all in kanji and she was very cute about it. I always knew there was a reason why I tend to wear bright colors and amusement parks were my “dream date” as a kid! 😂