Description: Rokko Island is the second artificial island in Kobe located in the southeast region of Kobe Port. The island is reclaimed land which was constructed between 1973 and 1992. It is a 3.4km by 2km rectangular shape, and covers 5.80km². Rokko Island was one of the hardest hit areas in Kobe after the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Rokko Island is a mix of residential apartments, corporate offices, sporting grounds, amusement areas, hotels, restaurants, and shopping malls.
We stayed at the Kobe Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers that is located next to the Rokko Liner station Island Centre and the Kobe Fashion Mall. The rooms were on the small side, by Western standards, but still comfortable enough. We had views over Kobe Bay and Kobe City which was nice.
The hotel staff were very friendly and their English was far better than my Japanese. Whilst the rooms were cheap enough (by Japanese standards), at ¥13,000 per night, the restaurants were quite expensive; the standard buffet breakfast was ¥4,600.
The Kobe Bay Sheraton is an associate hotel of Universal Studios Japan (USJ) and so is on the USJ bus route, which is handy if you don't want to take the train.
A negative of the hotel though is that you have to pay to use the gym and pool area, which is the first time I've seen hotel guests having to pay to use the facilities.
The hotel is right at a Rokko Liner station which connects the island to JR Sumiyoshi Station, stopping at several points along the way, making travelling to the Shinkansen stations of Shin-Kobe or Shin-Osaka easy.
At first glance Rokko Island looks like a dull port city, however it turned out to be anything but dull. Every Sunday an informal 'flea market' springs up on the promenade outside the Sheraton. The Kobe Fashion Mall has an assortment of restaurants, including Chinese, Italian, French, and of course Japanese. Halfway between the hotel and the port, on the right, is a magnificent tulip garden. It is also only a stones throw away from the sake breweries and museums.
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