How many of you have actually heard of the region “Hanshin-Kita”? Being a self-professed Japan addict who has traversed many grounds off the beaten path of all 47 prefectures, I am ashamed to admit that it too, missed my radar.

Please bear with me for a second to get the semantics out of the way: the word “Hanshin” (阪神), is taken from the second word from Osaka (大阪) and the first kanji from Kobe (神戸), and in “onyomi” (okay let’s not get there today) pronunciation it makes the word “Hanshin”. The world generally refers to Osaka, Kobe and the surrounding areas in between these two cities in Kansai. read more