Japan 2023 Day 7 part 2: Sannomiya, Kobe Harborland and Uzu

From Shin Kobe station I went back to Sannomiya and found myself at steak land. It was time for Kobe beef.

I believe I chose the Kobe beef steak lunch at 3500 yen. I have had Matsusaka and Hida beef and this was my first Kobe beef, I think.

After watching so many Japanese steak videos on youtube  it was my turn to have Kobe beef cooked in front of me. Its not crazy expensive but you can get a lot more meat at same price at a yakiniku.

Honestly I did not find anything special with the Kobe beef, not that it was bad just not spectacular. The Happy yakiniku I had with Will or the angus beef I cook for myself every week are just as good. I probably needed to pay more for the Kobe tender steak to really taste the good stuff.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a Book Off! Nitori the green sign below Book Off is Japan's version of Ikea. I rather like their furniture compared to Ikea. Too bad there is no market for Nitori in Australia because a lot of furniture stores are just overpriced.

Mochimaru! This fella loves appearing on my youtube and is one of the biggest youtube stars in Japan after Hikakin. His videos are good for reading practice as the owner doesn't speak and he is probably the most pampered cat in the whole world.

The shopping mall around Sannomiya and you can see Junkudo book store which I have come to love this trip.

Another pet store. Prices are not cheap and in Australia it is much cheaper and better to get pets from a pet shelter,

Next to the station is this building called San Plaza Kobe and there is a Surugaya! I am loving this place already.

God if War collection on Vita is too expensive.

I bought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance from here.

There were 2 old arcade machines in this shopping centre and apparently the one on the right has 1000 games.

In the same building I came across another retro gaming store Ojyamakan Sanmiyaten!

Should I buy a backup Vita since they are getting more expensive? Eve Burst Error R is pretty expensive. Have to check what differences there are from the Saturn version.

3 mystery PS4 games for 2500 yen. Stores usually do this fukubukuro stuff during new years but I don't think they are worth the money. It does make for fun youtube videos though hoping for a surprise.

The cheapest Dungeons & Dragons collection I have seen. It says the case is scratched. I can't really make out the second line. Its one thing to be able to read Japanese, its another thing to be able to read handwritings/scribbles.

Japan takes the condition of their games seriously and will reduce price because of scratches/damage to boxes etc. I really wanted to buy something to support Ojyamakan but I am not ready to pay over 10000 yen for a Castlevania game.

The back of the store has 4 tvs set up for retro gaming goodness. Now I am feeling bad for not buying anything because you don't see this anymore.

Came across these cheap plastic figure cases. Should have bought 2 since they were cheap and light.

I have no idea what Nikke is but their ads have been showing on my phone everyday and I am sure there is going to be an avalanche of figures in the near future.

There is going to be a Hikaru no Go pop up shop? Wait, is there an anime remake going on? That was a really good anime series many years ago.

My next target was Kobe Harborland.

Why is there a statue of Elvis in Kobe? Who knows, Did not read the stuff below the statue.

Kobe Harborland feels like a much smaller version of Yokohama with their own read brick building which turned out to be nothing.

I think this would look pretty good at night.

The big shopping centre Umie. Kobe Harborland is nothing special is more for people who live there than tourist spot. My advice for Kobe is don't go there if it is your first Japan trip. If not, take your time with the Herb Garden especially the hike back and explore around Sannomiya and skip Kitano and Harborland.

I went to Kobe station and...

..... could not help noticing that the kuroge wagyu croquette was on time sale!

Yum! You can never go wrong with kuroge or croquettes!

Went back to Umeda I think and randomly decided to try Sutadonya.

I can't remember what I ordered I think this is pork but I remembered I wanted a break from chicken because I had been eating konbini chicken every day. I should have ordered their chicken mountain set meal which you can see on the left of menu. One of the joys of eating in Japan is being able to order good food with high volume.

Ended the night by going to Uzu run by Kira. A long time ago, I used to go this bar near Fukushima station in Osaka called Gift where Kira ran and Yukimi, Megumi, Yuka etc worked. Then Gift moved to Tenmabashi and became Air's Clover that closed in Jan this year. Along the way, Kira opened her own bar in front Fukushima Station called Hakushe and I usually drank at Hakushe first before going to Tenmabashi. Osaka used to be the centre of my drinking universe in Japan.

Walked and didn't do the hisashiburi but Kira remembered me after 8 years and she got the years right. There were a bunch of regulars there and she introduced me as the Australian who used to come down every year. The above is this limited edition Yamazaki which is apparently is harder to get than Yamazaki 12s and my heart sank when Kira said if I needed Yamazaki 12s she could get them from her supplier. Noo, I am leaving for Kyushu the next day. Got news about the other girls. Megumi is married with 2 kids in Osaka and Yuka is living in Kobe.

The regulars were talking about Johnny and I said Kitagawa? They asked how did I know and I said the BBC documentary which no one had watched. I just said the interviews with the victims was horrific. They were talking about who would have gotten done and who was not his type.

I was talking a lot with this lady next to me who had resigned from her work and has been going to hello work. I said that I did not really have any plans in Kyushu and she said she was from Nagasaki and said Nagasaki is not that special. She did tell me about this place called Takachiho that looked really beautiful and she said it was a spiritual place for Japanese. Uzu is the only bar left from the old days with Hotaru and Air's Clover now gone. 

Saw another cat walking back to hotel in Noda. It quickly ran away when I got closer. Actually went on a detour to see Yukimi as she was working at a restaurant close by. We got to chat for 10 minutes and she said that she would be in Tokyo next week so we could meet up. She was actually in Fukuoka during the golden week weekend so we have been talking about that on Line when she was there as that was my next destination.

The only thing I bought on day 7 from Surugaya. I really should have bought something from Ojyamakan.