Kobe, Japan

Theresa and I travelled to Kobe, Japan for the first week of December.  Kobe was my last stop before entering China last February.  And this trip marked the first time that I'd been outside of China since then.

Kobe is a bustling city built on a small strip of flat land between Osaka Bay and the mountains that pop up a kilometer or so inland.   When you're in Kobe you can occasionally glimpse the mountains between the buildings - downtown Kobe is a forest of commercial towers and high rise apartments.  And when you're walking in Kobe, you always know that if you're walking uphill then you are walking North, toward the mountains.  If you walk far enough uphill, then you will come to the dividing line where the city ends and the forests of the mountainside begins.

 There are several places where you can take a cable car up the side of the mountain.  I had to work, but Theresa did not...so she found the time to take the cable car.  This is the first week of December, and you can see the trees are sporting their fall colors.  The temperatures in Kobe are almost always the same in Suzhou, which means that at this time the mercury had just started dipping into the 30s (Fahrenheit) at night.  The prime colors are a couple of weeks away.  But it is already beautiful.

 From the top you can see city and Kobe harbor and the islands (Harbor and Rokko Islands) beyond.  Japan is country of amazing landscapes and beauty.  These photos give just a small taste.