Kobe Port Tower

The red tower by Meriken Park has been the emblem of Kobe's harbour since 1963. It is 108 metres of steel pipe drawn into the shape of a tsuzumi, the hourglass hand drum, which is how it got the nickname "beauty of the iron tower". From across the water it looks thinner than you expect, and up close you can see straight through the lattice.

It closed at the end of September 2021 for seismic reinforcement and reopened on 26 April 2024. The renovation opened the roof to visitors for the first time. The rooftop deck sits about 100 metres up behind glass walls roughly two metres high, so you get the wind without the drop, and it runs all the way round: harbour and cranes on one side, the city climbing toward the Rokko mountains on the other.

Below the deck are five observation floors. The lowest has a partly glass floor about 75 metres above the pier, the third has a cafe and bar that turns a full circle in about 30 minutes, and the fourth is a small light-art museum. Adults pay 1,000 yen for the observation floors or 1,200 yen with the rooftop deck; elementary and junior-high children pay 400 or 500 yen. Tickets are for a timed slot, but once inside there is no time limit. There is no re-entry either, so finish your coffee before you go down.

Two catches. The deck is reached only by stairs from the fifth floor, so wheelchairs cannot go up, and strollers are not allowed on the observation floors at all. Go after dark if you can: the tower is open until 23:00 (last entry 22:30), it is lit with LEDs at night, and the harbour lights do more for the view than the daytime haze.

The low building at the base is free to walk into, with shops, a restaurant and an outdoor terrace. Minato-Motomachi Station on the Kaigan subway line is about five minutes' walk away; JR or Hanshin Motomachi and JR Kobe Station are each about 15 minutes on foot.