Kansai (Again) - Rokko Island

When Jill and I arrived in Osaka, our first goal was to find our hotel on Rokko Island near Kobe so we could drop off our stuff. Rokko Island is one of the artificial islands off the coast of Osaka, and has only been around for a little longer than I have. We were pleased to find that our hotel was easily within walking distance of the train station, especially since despite Jill's efforts to pack light, we were heavily encumbered with gifts and clothes.

Rokko Island Shopping Center - Where Japan hides its UFO

That's not really a UFO, but the building behind it is where we stayed. The UFO-structure is actually a showroom of some sort, and connected to it is the Kobe Fashion Museum.

Now, Rokko Island is a really interesting place, since in a lot of ways, it's kind of an odd ghost-town. While it definitely has a yuppie-ish almost wannabe Bellevue kinda atmosphere, it really felt like a place that wanted to be a lot more "happenin" than it actually was. That's not to say that it wasn't neat, but the huge vacant lots and over 50% of retail spaces that looked like they'd never been used made the place a little spooky.

The empty Rokko courtyard fountain - Where are all the teenagers?

Oddly enough, there were a lot of foreigners or Rokko Island. Guests, we assumed, of the hotel we were staying at. Most of the housing on the island looked like condos, and the Japanese people we did see around all appeared to be either young families, or retired couples. While I do admit that the emptiness of the island may have just been because it was kind of an off-season, the surprising amount of un-used or un-occupied space really confused me. Rokko Island must either be really expensive, or really undesirable to have retail space on,

For all of its weirdness, I really liked Rokko Island. Although its one train line was a little expensive, its few stores were all outlet-like stores, and sold odd things at liquidation prices. If I hadn't already bought the majority of my gifts, I probably would've done more shopping there.

Water Stairs in a Rokko Mall

Rokko Island also had lots of different kinds of food, including kaiten sushi, fry-your-own tempura, curry, ome-rice, McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway, Starbucks, Italian food, bakeries, takoyaki, and much much more! Jill and I tried a few different places, although I'd really like to try the make-your-own tempura place if we can ever find another one. There was also a spot in the Rokko Plaza (Where our hotel was) that had lots of independent vendors in it. One lady at a chicken-wing vendor wanted to practice English with us, and even gave us a discount for some hot wings! It was really nice of her! (Again, we get so lucky!)

Takoyaki take-out on Rokko Island

I'm spending kind of a lot of time talking about a strange people-made island, but I really thought it was pretty fascinating. There was also a movie theater and "50's American Furniture Shop" there, but the furniture being sold was all like 80,000-yen+. (Jill and I assumed that since it looked antiquey, and was shipped from the states, it justified the price... sort of?) It also would've been really cool to have gone to the Kobe Fashion Museum, but it wasn't open while we were there. I'm really glad that we got to stay in such a quaint place!

Our view of Kobe from the Hotel Room

I'll stop for now, since Shiva is being a little monster. Next time - the Rokko Mountain Herb Garden, and the would've-been departure from the airport.