Day 10 Visit to Kobe from Osaka

It was a drizzly day as we started the trip with a walk to our local JR train station, Fukushima, which, conveniently, is a stop on the train to Kobe. Making our way to the station, we pass some of the interesting landmarks of the neighborhood, like the local Tiki Bar and Eiffel Tower mosaic.

When we first came through the Fukushima Station, we missed a major attraction - depictions of the Seven Lucky Gods on the pillars under the tracks. We had exited through a different side of the station but this morning we took the main entry and found the fun art.

Unfortunately, due to traffic signals and folks not wanting me to get run over (thanks to Marie' for the effort), I only managed to capture 5 of the 7, missing Bishamonten (Dignity) [no surprise] and Jurōjin (Longevity) [which may have influenced this].

As a port city and one of the early places where foreigners and Japanese mixed, Kobe has a reputation as an open and modern city. Getting out at Sannomiya Station, a close suburban area that is the gateway to Kitano, you see a fair amount of public art.

Along with some fun and impactful private displays (intentional or not).

Most of the houses are operated by an organization which manage the entry tickets to many of the old manor houses, including the British and French houses. We decided that the only one we really wanted to go into that was part of this group was the Uroko House, which is further up the hill where we purchase the tickets. As we started up the hill, we noticed that the Rhine House (originally the Drewell House) was one of the few free ones, so popped in.

The house was original build around WWI by a French woman named Drewell. It was named Rhine House by the Japanese because the last foreign occupant was from Germany. It was rebuild in 2017 to improve its seismic stability based on the original plans.

Time to get back to path up the hill to our goal...

Uroko House was probably built in the late Meiji period - turn of the 20th Century - primarily as a luxury rooming house. It was named Uroko because the exterior is made up of stones resembling scales, which is uroko in Japanese. It was one of the first of these types of buildings to open to the public, currently as a museum displaying items, from furniture to porcelains, that were used when it was an active residence.

The entry plaza has a spot for your friendly neighborhood lucky porcine - rubbing it's nose has become a source of luck in legend.

There are also modern pieces which could be set in the time when the house was active and set to take advantage of the views of the city below in their settings.