Hello, MiMUjP is here! In this post, I wanna share with you guys the things to do in Hyogo prefecture, Japan. It is not so popular destination among travellers from overseas, but I’m sure it is worth to travel using your budget and time!
At first, where is Hyogo? I always answer it is next to Osaka every time I’m asked the question. Hyogo is located in “Kansai” area included six prefectures Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Wakayama, Shiga, and Hyogo. Hyogo shares the east border with Osaka and Kyoto, and the biggest city is “Kobe”. There are a lot of tourist attractions in this area, so in this story, I’m sharing my top three in Hyogo. You can find what you’ve never heard before in this blog definitely!
- Kinosaki-Onsen(hot spring)
You cannot miss “Onsen” in Japan! It is located the north part of Hyogo which takes 3 hours using public transportation from the Kobe airport. It is known for “外湯巡り(Sotoyu-Meguri)” which means Onsen hopping. What is “Sotoyu”? Read the origin of Sotoyu! You can enjoy hopping wearing “Yukata” which is traditional Japanese cloths, and it is so popular among young people and foreigners. You can feel the real Japanese vibe from the scenery since it still has some aged hotel, street, and so on… You can find restaurants of Japanese cuisine everywhere here, and you can choose the restaurant and try taste of Japan depend on your budget! Moreover, there are a lot of street food, you must try them!
# The origin of “Sotoyu”#
Long long ago, Onsen was limited the one using the natural hot spring, so the people thought the water was not owned by someone, but everybody’s, and started to construct bathrooms to share the limited water. Due to it, the hotels were built around the area with Onsen, and the customers of the hotels had used the Onsen. At that time, there was no people who went to many Onsen a day, but in this generation, it is one of the way to enjoy the different effect of each Onsen. There are 7 “Sotoyu” in Kinosaki-onsen. Every of them is different. If you wanna enjoy as much as possible, you cannot miss even only one of them!
2. Himeji castle
I guess many people have heard of this name at least once especially if you are a castle lover! I swear that this one is the best Japanese castle since it is the biggest and the This is also called “Shiragi-castle” as the colour of it is literary white. “Shiragi” is the name of a bird which has beautiful white colour. It is the reason why it is also called like that. The point I really wanna tell you is there is a street connecting the station to this castle, and it has a lot of local stores selling local products. You can enjoy street food too. In this area, there are a lot of volunteers who can speak English and help you to understand the interesting stories related to Himeji castle. There are a lot of trees of cherry blossoms planted around this castle, and you can enjoy the seasonal difference through a year. Every time you go there, it has the different vibes. Hah? The best season to visit…? Hmmmm…. It’s too hard for me to choose… Okay… It’s the time to show you this.
3. Kobe
It is not only the biggest city with the third biggest port in Hyogo, it is known for one of the most popular and expensive “Wagyu” brand called “KOBE BEEF”. I’m sure the reason why this city is so interesting is that it has a lot of faces.
The first place where you must visit is the Kobe port island. It is connected to Kobe station, and you can find a lot of trend shops, cozy restaurant with the view of sea. Moreover, there is a shop selling goods from studio Ghibuli called “Donguri kyowakoku”! You can enjoy shopping tax free in this Ghibuli store! Don’t miss the chance to buy the official goods from studio Ghibuli!! From this cute exterior, you are already into the world of Ghibuli!
There are more places I should recommend you to go. The first one is “Anpanman museum” which a lot of family visit to enjoy the meeting with the characters from anime Anpanman. However, my favorite part of this place is that you can enjoy the food which is the shape of characters from this anime! I suppose the point of this anime is the main character “Anpanman” shares his head made from anpan (bread with red beans) for the people who doesn’t have enough energy. You can be the real character of it by eating popular anpan here! There is a long queue from the bakery shop inside of this museum everyday. I wanna tell you It is worth to wait! You will be surprised how cute and tasty they are!! You MUST visit this amazing and the cutest museum! This is the floor map! My recommendation is bread! Let’s try it!!
The third place in my must visit list is starbucks in front of the port. “Why.. starbucks????” I can hear this inner voice from you:) All right, don’t worry, I can show you the difference of the starbucks from the others. This is one of the biggest starbucks in Kansai region, and there is a big park beside of it. A lot of people not only young people, but also families come to the park, and enjoy chilling out with the view of a big port.
And also, I cannot skip showing the night view of this place! It is breathtaking! You have to see this view!! It is famous as the date spot among young couples. It reminds me that sour and sweet first love❤ Moreover, there are big ships you can enjoy dining inside. It is so romantic and you can enjoy fine dining. Don’t delay to reserve your seat!! The light reflected of the surface of sea is so pretty. You should enjoy the night life here!
I just showed only a little bit of places to go. It is the tip of the iceberg. There are uncountable attractive places in Hyogo especially for the people who likes the place which is not too urban.
As I explained in this blog, Hyogo has different taste of attractions. I know it cannot be the first place chosen to come in Japan, but I hope you guys come here as the third or forth place to visit:)
I appreciate you guys to read my blog, and love you guys❤ Everybody opens my blog makes me happy, and when you find any errors of grammars or words, I will be happier if you tell me!! I hope you enjoyed this blog, and know how attractive Hyogo is! Thanks a lot, and if you like my blogs, follow me and wait for the next update!! Love you! See you in the next blog!!
