WoopAndWob

Woop and Wob here with another post of our adventures in Japan! Here is day 4 of our trip! Because of the length of our day, we decided to divide our adventures into two blog posts!

Hotel Details

Name: ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe Price: 15,000 yen/night Date: May 22, 2019 to May 24, 2019

Here’s a picture of the night view of our hotel!

Since this was our first time in the ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe, the check-in receptionist was so nice that they gave us everything in the minibar for free!!

A fully stocked minibar (we purchased the sandwich and the pudding; that wasn’t included)

We woke up in our room at the ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe, ready to begin our second day at Kobe. This time, we are going to Mt. Rokko and Arima Onsen. First up, Mt. Rokko!

Going up Mt. Rokko via the Rokko Cable Car

How were we supposed to go to Mt. Rokko? It is a mountain, after all. Luckily for us, there is a cable car that travels directly to Mt. Rokko. Not only was it a convenient way to go to Mt. Rokko, but we also got to enjoy the beautiful view of the mountain as the cable car climbs upwards.

So, we travelled by public bus from our hotel to the Rokko Cable Car and bought our one way tickets up the mountain. One-way tickets are 590 yen per adult and 300 yen per child.

As we arrived to the top, we took one last look at the cable car...

After a 10 minute ride up the mountain, we arrived at our destination. Now, there are plenty of places to see at Mt. Rokko, so we decided to visit them one by one. Next up: Rokko International Music Box Museum!

Rokko International Music Box Museum

We arrived at the museum shortly after. From the outside, the museum looks nice and cozy, making us look forward to our visit.

The music box building. It looks very Western!

The first thing we did while inside the museum was go to the concert. There is a concert every 30 minutes, where music boxes are played.

The concert room, filled with all different kinds of music boxes! They even played edelweiss from The Sound of Music!

The concert we listened to was themed on the four seasons. We listened to four songs related to the seasons from four different instruments. The concert was great and refreshing. It was beautiful.

Creating our own music boxes

The most interactive and hands-on part of our adventures at the museum had to be assembling our very own music boxes to keep! (The prices ranged from 3,000 to 6,000 yen)

First, we choose from 250 songs to place in our music boxes. We chose the Studio Ghibli music, Itsumo Nando Demo from Spirited Away, and Kimi wo Nosete from Castle in the Sky.

Our workshop station. With screwdrivers in hand!

Here we have the inside mechanics of the music box, with tools to make it!

Video of it playing below~ Turn up your volumes to listen to the soft melody!

If you are visiting the Rokko International Music Box Museum, and want a very special souvenir to take home, we highly recommend the Music Box Assembly workshop and create your own music box!

By the time we finished our music boxes, it was lunch time. We decided to eat at the cafe located inside of the museum, called the Strauss Cafe.

Lunch: Strauss Cafe at the museum

The cafe had a very nice atmosphere. In addition, there were music boxes placed on every table that can be played while we eat. It helped set a relaxing mood inside the cafe, and helped us recuperate from our day.

What did we order? The hamburg with rice, and for dessert, chocolate cake and pear tart!

After a filling and delicious lunch, we left the museum and headed to our next destination: the Rokko Alpine Botanical Garden.

Rokko Alpine Botanical Garden

Next up on our trip at Mt. Rokko is the Alpine Botanical Garden. We had a nice, quiet and relaxing stroll in the garden, appreciating the beauty of the flowers and plants.

After relaxing around the flowers at the botanical garden for a while, we decided to head out to the next area at Mt. Rokko.

Rokko-Shidare Observatory

We arrived at our last stop on Mt. Rokko: Rokko-Shidare Observatory. Contrary to the botanical garden, the structure is mostly man-made. The observatory gave us a nice view of Mt. Rokko, as well as a nice place to relax.

From inside, we can look at the detailed hexagons.

We could even enter the central trunk! Here is what it looks like from inside.

Finally, we took note of the #Rokko sign as we left the observatory.

Before leaving Mt Rokko, we actually collected prizes for the stamp collection scavenger hunt! We received clear files, crayons, and coloring pads. It’s too bad we couldn’t get the grand prize; they ran out. :(

With the observatory, our trip at Mt. Rokko came to a close. But, our day had only just begun. Because of our full schedule for the fourth day, we decided to divide the day into two blog posts! Join us next time as we head to the Arima Onsen by the Arima Rokko Ropeway. Until then!

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