For one Sunday afternoon, the lawn in the middle of Sannomiya turns into a playground. On Sunday, November 29, 2026, the City of Kobe and Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. will hold the outdoor-play event “Nobi-Nobi Playland in Higashi Yuenchi – Discover a New Way to Play!” at Higashi Yuenchi (Chuo-ku, Kobe). It is the second edition, following the first held in October, and universities and local groups, mainly student-led, will offer 10 kinds of play and activities that draw on their own areas of expertise.
Student-made play: move, make and think, in 10 kinds
The organizers say they want to create a place for “urban outdoor play” in the heart of Kobe. The aim is for children to touch nature, move their bodies freely, and find a “new way to play” of their own that leads to a new “I want to try that.”
The lineup runs from active play such as athletics and climbing to crafts, art and books. University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences leads universal sports experiences with boccia and blind soccer, and Sankousya runs a climbing challenge. Kobe City Sannomiya Library takes the library outdoors for an “open-air library and story time,” and Kirin Beverage uses picture-story shows and coloring to share the fun of playing outside.
A bamboo fort, bamboo dragonflies, straw airplanes: make it, then play
There is plenty of making, too. At the “bamboo fort” run by Hyogo Prefectural Awaji Landscape Planning and Horticulture Academy (ALPHA), children and visitors build a play space that combines a bamboo pyramid, a log bridge and contraptions. The social welfare corporation Suisei leads making of take-copters (bamboo dragonflies) and bamboo stilts, and Kobe Shinwa University’s UNESCO Club leads straw airplane making. The certified nonprofit Tenbin offers finger-painted “piece art,” in which pieces of overlapping color made by hand are joined into one work.
Photo: Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp.
Our editors like that making and playing flow together. You can fly the airplane or spin the take-copter you just made right there on the wide lawn.
Nature, disaster prevention and diversity, within play
Another pillar is bringing themes such as nature, disaster prevention and diversity closer through play. At the “basic life-saving skills workshop” by Kobe Gakuin University’s Seagull Rescue, anyone from children to adults can learn basic self-help skills for disasters. Okayama University and the NPO Suma Universal Beach Project offer test rides of wheelchair mobility devices that can move over rough ground. The organizers say the activities are designed to be enjoyable regardless of athletic ability or disability.
Photo: Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp.
Event details
- Date and time: Sunday, November 29, 2026, 11:00–15:00
- Rain: postponed to Sunday, December 6; canceled if it rains on the 6th as well. Go-ahead status is posted on “Odekake KOBE” (Japanese): https://event.city.kobe.lg.jp/event/LrtDNUH7zMMdRrDFUBic
- Venue: Higashi Yuenchi, lawn plaza (6-4 Kano-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe)
- Eligible: elementary school children and their guardians
- Admission: free (some activities are paid)
- Organizers: City of Kobe, Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp.
- Cooperating organizations: University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Sankousya, Kobe Gakuin University, Hyogo Prefectural Awaji Landscape Planning and Horticulture Academy, Tenbin, Kobe City Sannomiya Library, Suisei, Kobe Shinwa University, Okayama University, Suma Universal Beach Project, Kirin Beverage Co., Ltd.
- Note: information is as of November 6 and may be added to or changed
