Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県) is a prefecture within the Kansai region of central Japan. It covers 8.393 sq km and is the 12th biggest prefecture in the country. Hyogo Prefecture has a population of 5.6 million people (2011 estimate), putting it in 8th position out of the 47 prefectures of Japan. The prefectural capital is the city of Kobe.
Himeji Castle, Hyogo Prefecture
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Himeji_Japon_02.jpg Author: Charles Traband
Hyogo Prefecture was formed by merging together the former provinces of Harima, Tajima, Awaji and parts of Tamba and Settsu. The city of Kobe once served as an interim capital of Japan during the Heian Period, when Emperor Antoku moved the Imperial Court there in 1180. At that time, it was known as Fukuhara, and it served as the capital for a mere five months.
Food stalls set up during the Hana Matsuri festival
Hyogo Prefecture covers both sides of the island of Honshu, with the Sea of Japan to the north and the Inland Sea to the south. It borders Kyoto Prefecture to the northeast, Osaka Prefecture to the east, Okayama Prefecture to the southwest and Tottori Prefecture to the northwest. Located in the Inland Sea between mainland Hyogo Prefecture and the island of Shikoku is Awaji Island, also part of Hyogo Prefecture. Most of the population of Hyogo Prefecture is concentrated on the south, within the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe metropolitan area.
By Plane
You can land at the Kobe Airport (UKB), or for better connections, choose the Kansai International Airport (KIX). Even the Osaka Itami Airport (ITM) is an option, as it is the busiest domestic airport in the Kansai region.
By Train
The Nozomi Shinkansen bullet train gets you from Tokyo Station to Shin-Kobe Station in 2 hours 50 minutes and costs ¥14,670. The Hikari Shinkansen bullet train takes 3 hours and 20 minutes for ¥14,270 (no charge if you hold a Japan Rail Pass).
Onaturo Bridge connecting Kobe with Naruto in Tokushima Prefecture
Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.
Disclaimer
Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.