JR Sannomiya Station→Nunohiki Ropeway & Herb Garden→Kitano (former residential area of foreigners)→Ikuta Shinto Shrine→Sannomiya Center Street→China Town＆Motomachi Shopping Street→Cruise→Harbor Land or Former Foreign Settlement→JR Sannnomiya Station (→Izakaya if you like)

◆Nunohiki Herb Garden and Ropeway
It takes only 10 min to the Mountain Top Station by ropeway.  From a wide window, you can see the mountains with a lot of trees, Nunohiki waterfall, the streets of Kobe and Kobe Port and so on.  There’re herbs and flowers of 2,000 kinds.

◆Kitano
It’s a town originating from the old residential area for foreign residents when Kobe International Port was opened in 1868.  There’re some Western-styled houses established around 1900, shops and restaurants with an exotic atmosphere and so on.  You can walk to Ikuta Shinto Shrine, going down the slope.

◆Ikuta Shinto Shrine
 Located in the center of Kobe City, it is a time-honored and popular Shinto Shrine considered as the tutelary of Kobe citizens.  The city’s name “kobe” comes from “kanbe” meaning people taking care of the shrine.  

◆Sannomiya Central Shopping Street
It’s at 2 minutes’ walk from Sannomiya Station.  It runs from Flower Road to Koikawa Street, connecting the busy areas around Sannomiya and Motomachi.  You can enjoy shopping of various items along this street topped with a high transparent roof.

◆China Town
There’re about 100 shops in the area, 200 meters from east to west and 110 meters from north to south.  It’s one of the 3 China Towns in Japan.  There’re food stands selling sweets, food and souvenirs on the streets which are crowded with local shoppers and visitors especially on weekends.

◆Motomachi Shopping Street
It spans 1.2 km from near Daimaru Department Store (east) to near JR Kobe Station (west).  This street prospered as the busiest shopping street in Kobe before Sannomiya Central Shopping Street took its place by being developed in a postwar recovery program after the endo of WWⅡ.

◆Cruise
At present, 2 kinds of cruise boats going around the Kobe Harbor are available.  They’re “Kobe Bay Cruise” and “Fantasy,” and go around the harbor for about 45 min.  You can see the docks of Kawasaki Heavy industries and Mitshubishi Heavy Industries in the west.  If you’re lucky, you can also see submarines of Self Defense Force.  

◆Harbor Land
A shopping facility near the waterfront of Kobe port opened in 1992, using where there used to be a JR station and factories of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.  At present it is crowded with shoppers and visitors to “umie” or “Mosaic.”  The ports of the Kobe Port Cruise ships are close.

◆Former Foreign Settlement
Since 1868 when Kobe Port was opened to 1899, foreigners were allowed to have extraterritorial rights in this area south of Ikuta Shinto Shrine (up to the sea).  They had a superb city planning with which the area was divided with 126 sections orderly, giving an exotic atmosphere as if they were in the Western World.  Now it’s said that area is most sophisticated in Kobe” after re-appreciation and renovation program of the old buildings around there took place from around the 1990’s.