Thursday, January 04, 2007

Since we opt out for the Universal Studio our tour guide was kind enough to bring us to Kobe. Ok…about Kobe…honestly I dunno a damn about this city. Until I check it out from the website. What I know is that it did encounter a very bad earthquake call “The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake” in 17th Jan 1995 measuring 7.2 Richter Scale and 6,433 were killed, 300,000 were made homeless and large parts of the port and city were destroyed.

Also there if you are a real food fan you have to try the Kobe beef! Kobe beef refers to beef from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, raised according to strict tradition in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Kobe is the capital of Hyogo Prefecture. Wagyu ("Japanese Cattle") are renowned for flavor, tenderness, and fatty well-marbled texture, qualities enhanced by the traditional (and well guarded) methods of raising Kobe beef. Tajima-ushi cattle reportedly receive regular massages with Japanese rice wine and are fed hops. Japan claims Kobe beef as a geographical indication- it may only be called that if raised and slaughtered in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Outside of Japan, the meat is usually sold as "Kobe style beef" or "Wagyu". Kobe beef can be prepared as steak, sukiyaki, shabu shabu, sashimi, teppanyaki, and more.

Our tour guide brought us to Kobe Port Tower for a short shopping trip. If you are not into shopping you could walk all the way to the back of Mosic shopping mall there you will be able to find this small theme park right next to the port. After Kobe Port Tower, we did went to Kobe Chinatown….sorry I did not take any pictures as the place was way too crowded with people. To know more about Kobe visit this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe .