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Kansai's tourist transportation hub.
"I'll spend the rest of the trip in Kyoto and make day trips to Nara, Osaka and Kobe"
A recent acquaintance of mine invited me to a brew pub at the station where they live recently. To my surprise I discovered that this station is the central hub in the Kansai area, providing easy and fast access to Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Nanba, Itami airport, and Osaka Station. There is no other point that can serve so conveniently for all these destinations.
Amagasaki
Cheap, new, bright business hotel at the station:
http://www.hopinn.com/
...another:
http://www.hotel.gr.jp/index.php
One draw back is that the area is a sprawling suburban shopping mall. This makes it easy to shop, eat and drink, but it's not as much fun as being in a hotel in Shinsaibashi, for example. Kobe is only 15 minutes away as is Shinsaibashi. That said, if you want the most convenient location for hitting all the major tourist sites in Kansai, you can't beat Amagasaki.
Access everything!
