Mosaic Shopping Center at Harbourland Umie in Kobe Japan

Harborland is a shopping district in Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan. Kobe Port Tower is located there. This shopping district was made on the site of the former freight yard, Minatogawa Kamotsu Station of the Japanese National Railways. The yard was removed in 1982 and the shopping district opened in 1992.
We came by to Kobe on our own as a day tour from Osaka (riding the JR Kobe line train here takes only 26 mins). We mainly came here to shop and Harborland is our target as it is a huge shopping mall with north and south wing, covering several storey with lots of shops, cafes and restaurants, including a huge AEON styled supermarket at the basement.
On the day of our visit, as it was a weekday and a rainy day from morning till night, the mall was not crowded and so we could shop leisurely and peacefully at our own pace. While there are shops that are positioned as "middle to high end", there are also "middle-lower" ones and so generally it caters to different customers base.
And trust us, we did grab quite a lot of stuff from here after spending about 3 hours here before heading on to our next destination!
So when you are in Kobe and a shopaholic, you may like to dropby to walk walk, see see!
Mosaic / Kobe -- I don't know about you, but when I'm in a new port city, my first impulse is not to go to a highly commercial waterfront shopping complex that attracts the masses. Tourist-centric places like NYC's South Street Seaport, Chicago's Navy Pier, and San Francisco's Pier 39 elicit only shrugs from me and Jamie W. Well, at least Pier 39 has seals to watch..
This one would be in the same category though it didn't feel as offensive to our persnickety sensibilities, especially after a long ride on the City Loop bus. The shops were exactly what we expected, for example, kid-focused merch like Ultraman World M78. The food stands
focused on nutritional items like cotton candy shaped like mammoth flying saucers
However, the layout was definitely pleasant, especially the extended wooden deck that overlooks the harbor. The centerpiece was the giant LED-lit Ferris wheel mostly from a distance where the lighting effects can best be seen. For what it was, Mosaic was well executed, but keep in mind your attention span will depend on how much you feed your inner child.