Sunset and lights in Meriken Park

As the sun falls the night is lit up with city lights

Rory Jackson Aug 08, 2013 - 1 min read

The neighbouring entertainment and shopping district Harbourland glows invitingly at night.

This giant mesh fish stands out the front of Cafe Fish! and depicts a dancing carp, designed by Frank O. Gehry.

The park has water features, large paved areas and its fair share of cool architecture.

The city and port glow pleasantly as the sun sets, making this a great spot to check out the tall buildings of Kobe.

The mammoth Oriental Hotel harbours the Luminous Kobe 2 luxury liner which will take you for a quick spin (just over 2 hours) around the Seto Inland Sea as dusk falls.

The Techno Super Liner (Hayate) is a working experimental boat (built at one sixth scale of its potential) that's part of the Maritime Museum's external display.

This experimental boat (named Yamato 1) runs on superconducting electromagnetic propulsion and was the first working boat of this type.

The iconic Kobe Port Tower stands proudly on the water's edge and offers a great observation platform at the top.

The Kobe Maritime Museum has a distinctive architectural roof that gets lit up at night, revealing a lattice of white steel.

Meriken Park is a paved seaside park where you can enjoy the sunset, twilight and night lights of Kobe city. Couples sit along the water's edge to watch the boats as the sky turns purple and the occasional bird squawks. The buildings light up and the city of Kobe glows like an urban wonderland. It's also the perfect spot to view the Harbourland district - the Ferris wheel puts on an incredible light show.

More info

Find out more about Meriken Park.

Rory Jackson @rory.jackson

I'm a journalism and philosophy student from Brisbane, Australia. I like travel photography and getting into the wilder areas to find what nature has to offer. As long as I have my camera in hand and some cash I'm ready to travel.