Life on Rokko (Part 1)

To follow up on the last post, and also to catch up on other things, here are some more pictures of our situation on the mountain.

First, the Cable car. We live about 1.2 km straight up Rokko-san (Rokko Mountain), to the North East of Central Kobe. There are two ways to get to our house from the city: a 20-minute drive around hairpin turns, or a sedate straight ascent on the Rokko Cable Railway: the latter is much more beautiful, and less stressful. Sean took these pictures a little while ago of the trip down.

Not many people can be so lucky as to use this as their means of commuting to work (I am one of the few foreigners to have a "teki" (monthly pass) for this particular train). On sunny weekends, it's packed with day-hikers and other tourists come to admire the view, but during the week, and especially in the evenings, we often have the whole train to ourselves).

Julian and I especially like the cable, not least because we're both prone to car-sickness and the road is challenging in that respect.

The temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the cable can be quite dramatic: typically 5 degrees, sometimes as much as 10 degrees. (Two weeks ago, just before Justin was born, we were down the hill in Mikage, where it was 18 degrees: by the time we reached the top of the hill, the temperature had dropped to 8. This morning, the thermometer was at freezing, at work a few hours later it's 16).

Next up: Sean's new school, and the music concert...

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