9 Best Sights in Downtown Kobe, The Kansai Region

In 1995 the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake killed 6,433 people, leveled vast areas of the city, and destroyed much of the harbor. Using documentary footage and audio, an introductory film shows the frightening destruction of this modern city. A re-created postquake display and high-tech exhibits convey the sorrows and memories of the event. This excellent museum has English pamphlets and electronic guides, and English-speaking volunteers are on hand. It's a 10-minute walk from the South Exit of JR Nada Station, one stop east of JR San-no-miya Station.

This striking concrete edifice was designed by acclaimed architect Tadao Ando. Working primarily with concrete, Ando is known for his use of light and water, blending indoors and outdoors and utilizing flowing geometric paths. The permanent exhibit here features art from prominent 20th-century Japanese painters Ryohei Koiso and Heizo Kanayama, Kobe natives who specialized in Western techniques. The museum rotates its vast collection, displaying fantastic modern works from Japanese artists as well as sculptures by Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin. It also hosts international touring shows. It's a 10-minute walk from the South Exit of JR Nada Station, one stop east of JR San-no-miya Station.

If you're heading to Meriken Park, consider a short stop in Kobe's Chinatown. The area was originally a center for Chinese immigrants, though it is now mostly popular with Japanese tourists looking for souvenirs and food. To find Nankin-machi from Moto-machi Station, walk on the port side and enter the neighborhood through the large fake-marble gate.

Nada, one of Kobe's westernmost neighborhoods, is home to a number of museums and breweries—many offering free sake tasting. The most popular is the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, where at the door you'll find a sake barrel of immense proportions. Traditional tools and devices and life-size figures of traditionally clad brewers demonstrate the sake-brewing process. There are also videos in English. The tour ends with free tastings. It's a five-minute walk south from Hanshin Sumiyoshi Station. Brewery Museum tours are by reservation only, so be sure to call ahead at least a couple days in advance.

No trip to Kobe is complete without a waterside visit. Within Meriken Park broken slabs of thick concrete and crooked lightposts are preserved as part of the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park. Across the grassy park the Kobe Maritime Museum's roofline of white metal poles, designed like the billowing sails of a tall ship, contrast beautifully with the crimson Port Tower. The top of the tower provides a 360-degree view of Kobe. A walkway connects to Harborland's outdoor shopping mall. Eat dinner at any of the restaurants on the waterfront and enjoy the stunning nighttime view. Nearby, a small Ferris wheel rotates lazily, the colors of its flashing lights bouncing off the sides of nearby ships. Meriken Park and Harborland are a 10-minute walk south of Moto-machi Station.

Legend has it that this shrine was founded by Empress Jingu in the 3rd century, making it one of Japan's oldest. An impressive orange torii (gate), rebuilt after the 1995 earthquake, stands amid the bustle of modern Kobe, welcoming tourists and religious observers alike. Every year two Noh plays, Ebira and Ikuta Atsumori, at Ikuta's Autumn Festival retell parts of the 12th-century Genpei War. It's just a six-minute walk northwest of San-no-miya Station.

This museum specializes in work from the 16th and 17th centuries, focusing on reciprocal cultural influences between East and West. The first floor has a variety of displays on the West's impact on Japan in the second half of the 17th century. Other exhibits document the influence of Western hairstyles for women and the arrival of electric and gas lamps. The museum also has an impressive collection of woodcuts, maps, and archaeological artifacts, as well as Namban-style art, namely prints, silkscreens, and paintings from the late 16th to 17th century, usually depicting foreigners in Japanese settings. The historical exhibits are fascinating, but it is the artwork from this period that is the real draw.

From San-no-miya Station, walk south on Flower Road to Higashi-Yuenchi Koen. Walk through the park to the Kobe Minato post office, across the street on the west side. Then head east along the street in front of the post office toward the Oriental Hotel. Turn left at the corner in front of the hotel, and the City Museum is in the old Bank of Tokyo building at the end of the block.

The Kobe Maritime Museum is the stunning building with a billowing roofline of metal sails. It showcases detailed ship models, opening with a 27-foot model of the HMS Rodney, the British flagship that led a 12-ship flotilla into Kobe Harbor on January 1, 1868. A model of the Oshoro Maru, one of Japan's earliest sailing ships, is adorned with pearls, rubies, gold, and silver. There are also displays of modern tankers. Kawasaki Good Times World is also inside the museum. High-tech displays and interactive models showcase the Kawasaki company's history. You can ride a helicopter flight simulator and see a robot work at a Rubik's Cube. Admission is included in the fee for the museum.

This is one of the few sake breweries open to tours (from January to November), which should be booked at least two days before to ensure an English-speaking guide. All of the signposting is in Japanese, but there's a fine shop.