Kobe is one of the two largest ports in Japan. The city is well sheltered by a range of hills, with a population of about 1.5 million ranking it the 8th largest city in the nation.
I can take you to Kitano Ijinkan (Foreigners' residential area), Meriken Park, Cinese market and Kobe Port Cruising.
Kobe is very famous for Kobe beef, so if you want, I can take you to Kobe beef restaurant.
Basically we use city loop bus for about 1,000JPY/person and your entrance fee is about 1,000JPY/person.
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
at your hotel
Kitano Ijinkan
Just after the port of Kobe opened, a lot of fireigners came to Kobe and they built their residence around Kitani elavated area. Noe about 20 houses remain.
We visit Weathercock house and Moegi house.
China Town
We can have lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
We can enjoy steamed pork bun, popular local food in Kobe.
Meriken Park
We visit Hanshin Awaji Great Earthquake Memorial Park.
Red Port Tower and white Kobe Marine Museum are beautiful contrast.
Kobe Harbor Land
We can enjoy Kobe Port Cruising.
Japanese sake brewery company
We know how to make sake in the film.
We enjoy sake tasting and buy Japanese sake.
Ending Point
at your hotel
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
guide fee
transportation fee (you and the guide), lunch, entrance fee
(1) If you like, we can have Kobe beef for lunch.
(2) If you have children, I can take you to Kobe Animal Kingdom. The different point from zoo is that you can enjoy watching animal performance shows and petting pretty animals. You can enjoy Pelican Flight Time, Ring-tailed Lemur Feeding Commentary at Pelican Lagoon. Furthermore you can enjoy Bird Performance Show on Water Lilies such as hawk, owl, poll parrot and the like. At the dog stage, shepherd dogs lead sheeps.
(3) You can command a panoramic view of Kobe from Mt.Rokko. Actually it is called one million dollar night view, one of the three major night views in Japan. If you want to see the beautiful night view, you can enjoy the view by using taxi for 2 to 3 hours. It costs about 10,000yen for 2 hours, and about 16,000yen for 3 hours.
I guide you Sapporo, Furano, Otaru, Hakodate in Hokkaido / Aomori in Hokuriku / Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Himeji in Kansai / Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Kagoshima in Kyushu / Kochi, Matsuyama, Ehime in Shikoku / Matsumoto in Nagano/ Tottori, Shimane, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Fukui in Japan Sea side / Please get in touch with me!!
Thank you.
Hello, I'm HIDEo YOSHIda. Please call me HIDEYOSHI, the same name as the famous shogun who built the Osaka Castle in 1585.
I was born in Kobe and worked in Osaka for nearly 40 years. I would like to introduce the Kansai region to you ,including Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama.
Kobe is one of the two largest ports in Japan, along with Yokohama. After the opening of the Port of Kobe in 1868, foreigners built their residences on the hillside of the Kitano-cho area, overlooking the ocean. Many of the foreign residences are now open to the public as museums, including the Weathercock House, with it's symbol weathercock on the triangle-shaped roof.
In Meriken Park, the red Port Tower (the city's landmark), creates a beautiful contrast against the white Kobe Marine Museum. The museum's design was inspired by the waves and sailing ships.
When you have a chance to visit Osaka, please join my tour. I'm sure you'll enjoy the interesting and historical, scenic spots. For example, Shin-Sekai is a downtown area with a strange mix of nostalgic atmosphere and contemporary energy. You can try local foods (kushikatsu, sushi, tempura) at a reasonable price. Billiken (a famous statue of the spirit of luck) will be waiting for you!!. Dotombori is a popular street with a lot of flashy signboards. Osaka is widely known as a "Kuidaore-no-machi", or literally "drinking and eating luxuriously to death." Osaka Castle was built by Toyotomi HIDEYOSHI in 1585. Oh, it's my residence, isn't it !
These days "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" area in USJ, or Universal Studios Japan, is also attracting more and more people.
I'll be looking forward to seeing you !!
Julie R.
“Wonderful experience ”
Hideo is a wonderful knowledge guide. We had an amazing time touring with Hideo. His van was clean and air conditioned. He waited for us to soak up everything. He knew the perfect picture spots. He would even take our picture for us and we loved what he did. We would definitely recommend Hideo.
Hideo Y.
I'm very happy to receive your excellent review. On a clear day we visited Kochi Castle, Katsurahama, Makino Botanical Garden and Chikurinji Temple. In paricular we could see beautiful flowers such as Japanese iris, royal water lily, and a dragon-fly, a frog almost summer scenery in the garden. Hot and humid climate will continue, so I wish you and all your family good health and happiness.
Brian S.
“A Lovely Day with Hideo visiting Kochi.”
My family of five had a wonderful day touring via private taxi with Hideo visiting Kochi's top sites during our short window during our port stop from our cruise. You have to pay extra cash for the taxi, but this was still cheaper than the excursions offered via our cruise ship for our family. Hideo was able to tailor our trip ahead of time and was very communicative about some changes that needed to be made due to the garden closure on our day in Kochi. Hideo walked with us in the city pointing out the famous red Harimaya Bridge and came back at the top of the hour to show us the beautiful mechanical clock. He walked with us and gave us excellent history at the Kochi Castle, at the Katsurahama Beach where we viewed the famous samurai Sakamoto Ryoma statue and had an excellent bonito/tuna meal (my girls had steak), and ice cream. Finally we toured the lovely Buddhist temple Chikurinji, temple 31 of the 88 on the island of Shikoku. Hideo was prompt, kind and modified his tour a bit when the very hot and humid weather slowed down the family. Hideo provided a wealth of information and answered all of the questions that we had about Kochi and Japan. I highly recommend using Hideo as a guide. You will be in very caring hands.
Hideo Y.
I'm very glad to receive your excellent review. Thank you for joining my Kochi tour. Kochi castle is one of the 12 castles that are built until 1867 (when Samurial Period finished) and now still exists. We dropped in at Harimayabashi bridge with the lost love story. On the oppisite side, we could see the unique Mechanical clock. We could see the Yosakoi dance and Katsurahama at the clock. We had bonito for lunch. Kochi faces the Pacific Ocean and "one fishing line and a hook bonito" is very popular. Lastly we visited Chikurinji Temple where we could see the beautiful 5-story pagoda and I showed you the Buddhism. I wish you and all your family good health and happiness.
Jennifer S.
“1 day Miyajima Tour”
Our group of 9 (2 families - 4 adults, 2 teens, 3 kids) had a great day on Miyajima led by Mr. Hideo. He was able to book the water taxi for us in advance as I was having difficulty doing so online. We met at the Peace Museum after our group saw the museum early 0730-0930 (highly recommend) with the audio tour and accompanied us to the water taxi. We were able to enjoy shrines, the rope suspension, and snacks/shopping, as well as take lots of pictures. He recommended a great low-key restaurant for lunch. Our group had a great low-stress time and would strongly recommend Mr. Hideo as a guide.
Hideo Y.
I'm very happy to receive your excellent review. We used a water taxi, or a World Heritage Route from Peace Memorial Park to Miyajima, for about 40 minutes. We could see the Great Vemrilion Gate at both low tide and high tide. When we just arrived at Miyajima, it was low tide, so many tourists walked uder the Great Vermilion Gate, after a while when we leave, we could see as if the gate looked like floating on the sea at hige tide. We took Ropeway to the top of Mt.Misen where we could command a panoramic view of the Seto Inland Sea. I'm sure you enjoyed Miyajima tour. I wish you and all your family good health and happiness.
$277/ per group