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June 4th: Kobe Trip

Today was the field trip to Kobe. Once we arrived we went to Riken. We were able to briefly look at many different displays they had before going up and listening to a presentation about the supercomputer Fugaku. The lecture was very interesting and in depth and we got to look at Fugaku which was in the room next to the one we listened to the presentation in.

After Fugaku at Riken, we went to the nearby zoo called Dobutsu Okoku. We ate lunch at the cafeteria area inside of the zoo and then walked around to look at all the animals in the zoo.

One of the exhibits at the zoo was a shoebill stork that was named Big Bill. We were able to see him walking around the area he was in.
There was also a section in the zoo with lemurs roaming around a center island. You could go onto the island and get close to them.
There was also an area with a bunch of monkeys and other animals you could also get pretty close to.
After the zoo we went to Takenaka Museum. The museum had a lot of interesting displays of carpentry tools and how they are supposed to be used. There were also many things you could touch in the museum like wood shavings cut off using the carpentry tools and pieces of wood held tightly together you could try to disassemble and reassemble. There was also a section with a small house you could walk into and look around in.
After the museum we went to the Herb Garden. We took a ropeway up to the top of the mountain the Herb Garden was on. After we got to the top we could walk around and see all the stuff at the top.
On the way back down we decided to walk instead of taking the ropeway back down. There were a lot of nice views on the way back down from the garden.
After we were done for the planned activities of the day we went to go get dinner. We decided on getting burgers since we were in the mood for it and after seeing that the first two places we had picked out were closed we finally got to one called BISCO smash burger.
The burger place was really small on the inside and all of the food was made by one guy on the grill who made them right in front of you. He didn't know a lot of English, though he said that he has been to America before and enjoyed the time he spent there. The burgers were very good and he did a good job replicating an American feeling at the place.


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