Day 119 in Japan - Conquering Mt Rokko (by cable car)

A pancake start to the day is always a good start to the day! Sam headed off to work, and the rest of us headed up towards Mt. Rokko for the day. We caught the train, bus and cable car like last time. We appreciated the views, caught the shuttle bus around to near the hotel area, ate lunch with a lovely view (and explained the plot of the previous 6 Harry Potter movies to Anna), then caught the bus onto the botanic gardens.

The Alpine Botanic Gardens at the top of Mount Rokko were really brilliant! This weekend was the last weekend of the "Rokko Meets Art" festival that has been on for a month, so there were some interesting installations to walk around looking at (like the funny mirror boxes, little wire samurai and frogs all around the autumn leaf litter, and a garage door "room" that you could use to shut yourself off from the rest of the world and just look at the sky. But even without the bits of art scattered around, the gardens were full of beautiful autumn leaves and would have been well worth a look.

Mirror installations reflecting the sky, and reflecting the idiots :P

Samurai vs. rabbit. FIGHT!

Mum and Dad on one of the many lovely valley walkways.

All of the colours of autumn lined up for me!

Mum got a Gandalf staff and didn't even say "You Shall Not Pass". That's how I know I'm adopted.

Yep, it's definitely autumn.

After the gardens, we walked past the museum of musical boxes (which actually looks well worth a visit, and I think I will come back to next time), and caught the bus back to the Rokko Mountain Terrace to get warm (it really was cold up the top of Rokko) and get ready to watch the sun set over Osaka and Kobe. We got icecreams (not the smartest move in the freezing weather, but they were delicious), watched the lights come on, and revisited the cool dome thing being lit up (on the second last night, too!)

As soon as the sun set, the cold really set in, so we didn't hang around too long. The ride home was packed with people, and we were pretty crowded all the way on the bus, cable car, and next bus. This visit, we decided to catch the last bus all the way to the JR Rokkomichi station instead of the slightly closer Hanky station. It was much better! The station was nicer, we got on a train that went straight to Okubo, and we even got in a bit of souvenir shopping in the warm while we waited.

We met Sam back at Okubo station, and for dinner we hit up a place that Sam and I have been eyeing off for a long time - the Kobe World Buffet! This is really quite close to our house, and is about 1000 yen for all-you-can-eat "international" food. It was good for everyone to be able to choose whichever food we wanted, and we were all starving after the day at Rokko, so the "all-you-can-eat" part didn't go astray either. We stayed and had cake and dessert until it was time for our late session of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1! It was enjoyed by all (although the Japanese custom of staying in the cinema until the end of the credits was a bit weird to all of us). The late screening meant that it was only 1000 yen each, instead of then normal 1800 yen, which Anna pointed out is the opposite to home - normally the latest screening is the most popular, and they would charge more if they could get away with it.

On the walk home, we saw the Okubo station Christmas lights lit up for the first time. A fitting end to a lovely day.

Food Highlight of the Day: Curry Rice With a View (for lunch).