5 November 2017
Pyramids of Sannomiya
Eating curry on Ikuta road in Sannomiya|
After getting distracted last night and seeing only Kobe port, tonight I boarded a train and headed straight for Sannomiya, the main downtown area.
Surprisingly, no over zealous security guards or store owners tried to stop me.
It was very bright and busy there, and bigger than I remember from my previous 2 daytime visits. I think I had the layout all confused and previously arrived via Shin-Kobe and went around the edge of Sannomiya - this all means nothing to people who havent been to Kobe before.
There was a bunch of pop starlets putting on their show, and a whole heap of guards ensuring no photos were taken, I thought I was going to ignore that until I saw them take a phone off a guy forcibly!
Anyway, the girls miming were pretty useless, from what I could tell they were called Marleez, and they were all dressed in what looked like harry potter capes.
The real entertainment was the men watching, and it was almost all men, they had a part to play with cheering in complex rhythms during the chourus, like they had all practiced it at home before coming to the live performance.
I still think Kobe is great, very underrated, I needed more time here, common theme this trip! Tomorrow I go to Gifu, I have never even visited before and I have no idea whats there.
If its really boring, I can just go to Nagoya, which is only 30km away.
The colorful station area of Sannomiya.
Lots of streets extend up the hill, I dont think I ever went up there before.
And after going on a rant about the racist guy earlier, here is what I presume is the nazi party of Japan bus.
Its hand painted black, with the rising sun flags trailing at the back, the guys in it wearing arm bands and headbands.
When they saw me taking their photo, the guy delivering the manifesto over the loudspeaker system got particulalry animated.
I like to think he was ranting about me. The speakers on this bus were seriously loud, I could hear it all night from blocks away.
And heres the reason for tonights post title.
5.5 years ago I went to Pyramid curry here for lunch, when I visited Kobe for the day.
Its an independent store, not part of a chain, and the same guy was still running it, I remember him, he sings as he prepares the meal, and has a pony tail.
I explained to him that I visited many years ago, he didnt believe me, said I was making it up to get discount!
I said I didnt want a discount, and googled 'lostorwhat kobe pyramid' and there it was, my last visit. I showed him on my phone, and he burst out laughing.
Great curry though. Very spicy, and the rice is shaped like a pyramid, how could it possibly be bad? Its the best Japanese curry I ever had, and I have now had it twice.
Curry photos really are terribly pointless, its brown goo on rice, but I dont care, I put them here anyway.
The central Kobe one of these is 2 levels high and very spacious. Looks deserted up this end but theres a lot of people in the distance.
The local parking garage has a shark with an animated LED display.
Overpass, long exposure, starbeams.
Sannomiya also has a very large red light district. The people of Kobe are particularly sinful.
Last pic for this evening, an enormous coffee shop. Maybe I will go there in the morning before heading back to Shin-Osaka to get the train to Gifu.