Kobe Harborland

photo by Oilstreet · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Mass Ave 975 · CC BY-SA 3.0

The 50-metre Ferris wheel lights up every evening with 120,000 LED lights over the port.

From the umie pier you board the big Ferris wheel, 50 metres tall: in ten minutes the gondola goes round and shows the port, the Port Tower and the outline of Mount Rokko all at once, while at sunset the 120,000 LED lights come on and change pattern. Around it, on the piers where freight trains once unloaded, now stand the umie and Mosaic department stores.

Until 1982 the Minatogawa freight rail yard and the plants of Kawasaki Steel and Kawasaki Heavy Industries operated here: a waterfront closed to the public. The Municipality of Kobe and the private sector invested over 300 billion yen to redevelop twenty-three hectares, chose the name Harborland through a public competition in 1984 and opened the district in September 1992. Less damaged by the January 1995 earthquake than the nearby centre of Sannomiya, it reopened within a few days and soon became a symbol of the city's reconstruction.

ℹ️ umie and Mosaic are open every day: shops 10:00–20:00, restaurants until 22:00 (the cinemas even past midnight). The Ferris wheel runs from 10:00 to 22:00, until 23:00 on Saturdays and the days before public holidays; ticket 800 yen (free under 3), a ride of about 10 minutes. In the 2025–2026 edition, between 1 November and 25 December, the district lights up in blue, Harborland's signature colour, for the ‘Kobe Umiakari’ winter illumination: the official page does not confirm whether the dates repeat identically every year.

🚉 Harborland · 6 min walk

Sources: harborland.co.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · harborland.co.jp · umie.jp · merikenpark.com

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