1 minute skatepark guide Kobe Japan - Minato no mori Koen Skate Park
Address: 2 Onohamacho, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-0082, Japan
1 minute skatepark guide Kobe Japan - Minato no mori Koen Skate Park
All the best things seem to come from Kobe! Like Kobe Beef, Kobe’s Sake, the basketball player Kobe Bryant and of course Minato no mori Koen Skate Park, Kobe.
Let’s get into this amazing skatepark that is under the highway and because of that it was good to skate during the day. I don’t think that it would keep the rain out though, maybe light rain. It does have lights however for night skating! Also it is free to ride.
Let’s start at the big box end, there’s a lot happening on this box. It has a beautiful down rail that can be skated on both sides. It’s really long and a decent height.
Next to the rail on either side are coping ledges the coping doesn’t stick up above the ledge at all so it is more like a normal ledge. But it is also really long and a good height.
Down at the bottom of the rail is a wall ride, I haven’t seen one of these before and it is heaps of fun. Lots of trick ideas here as you can see on the top there is coping and on top of the fence too, for anyone crazy enough to do it.
Then down the other end, we have one of the nicest 6 foot quarter pipes around. Smooth and perfect coping, also a two foot extension for the funbox.
The humble fun box! This is something that has somehow disappeared from skateparks and I don’t know why! I love a good funbox and this one is one of the greatest that I have skated. It has a perfect runup and the ramp launches you up high and the landing is slightly curved for a softer landing. My favourite thing at this park!
Then there’s a spine next to the funbox. It has a small platform on top of about 10 cm but I like it when they have that, it makes it feel safer for some reason.
Then on the front side of the big box is a series of banks and quarter pipes and the ledge at the top. Also the coping continues the full distance. Very cool.
And lastly for this part of the skatepark is a little box with quarters on both ends and a small box with rails. Good for learning or for beginners!
So if you thought that this guide is over, you would be wrong! Let’s head over to the street section. There’s lots of ledges here, a double decker curved rail. The lower ledge is the perfect height and it’s a long curved ledge and a sharp one. Lots of fun and slides well. The top one however is just a little too high for me but that didn’t stop Aoi from jumping on and stomping out the whole ledge.
I swear that everything here is long, we go over to the railway track, this was lots of fun to grind and you have good runup to do the whole thing.
There are also more ledges around the place as well as this cool rail and ledge down a mellow bank. The rail is short enough to get onto but tall enough to be a real rail.
Next to it, was a long ledge that was a lot of fun and a good height. It was a little bit sharp but not too bad.
It was cool skating here with all the trains driving past as you skate and the park with people playing and exercising. There are toilets and even a Conbini nearby.
This is my favourite skatepark that I have been to in Japan. It has everything that you need and Kobe is a beautiful city. If you plan on visiting Japan, throw this on you list of places to visit. I give this skatepark 6 frosty Premium Malts out of the six pack!