"I'll meet you at 9.30 p.m. outside the convenience store at Hanshin Uozaki Station," said the pleasant voice on the other end of the phone. It belonged to Aiko, who one year ago founded Kobe Dears, a backpacker hostel a 10-minute train ride from central Kobe proper that she runs with her British husband, Andrew.
Kobe, like many places in Japan, can be brutally expensive to visit. My self-imposed mission was to see what fun could be squeezed from Hyogo Prefecture's capital without breaking the bank and not spending more than 10,000 yen in and around the city in 24 hours. At 2,500 yen for a dormitory room (3,500 yen for a private room), Kobe Dears was certainly the right place to start.
I tip-toed past Turbo, the Japanese Shiba dog at the foot of the stairs outside the hostel, since a warning sign points out he might bite and removed my shoes at the entrance. Apart from the Kerropi Fluffy Frog toilet-paper holder, free high-quality shampoo in the spotless showers and general lack of pot fumes, you would never guess Japan lurked outside. Right down to the recycling bins, communal cooking area and free Internet, you could be at any high-quality backpackers joint in the world.