Kobe Kaientai Monument (The Kobe Moai)

Tucked along the waterfront in Meriken Park, beside the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel, stand five weathered stone statues that look unmistakably like the moai of Easter Island — and indeed locals affectionately call them "the Kobe Moai." Their official name is the Kobe Kaientai Monument (Kobe Kaientai no Hi). The carvings honour the young trainees of the Kobe Naval Training Center (Kobe Kaigun Soren-jo), a short-lived naval academy established along this shore between 1863 and 1865 under Katsu Kaishu, the visionary naval reformer, with the famous reformist samurai Sakamoto Ryoma among its students. Each of the five figures is a slightly different size with its own facial expression, gazing steadily out toward the sea the cadets once trained on. The monument has become a beloved and slightly offbeat photo spot — the statues are often dressed up in seasonal costumes by locals (Santa hats in December, and so on), and they can be admired from both the sea side and the park side. Because it sits right among Meriken Park's headline sights — Kobe Port Tower, the Maritime Museum, and the BE KOBE monument — it costs nothing to visit and slots easily into any harbor stroll.