Kobe relocation

Dear friends
It has been a pleasure to be part of the international community.
Being relative new to the community iam still exploring the sites and its vast resources.
I might be relocating to Kobe in near future and was curious to find more information on the city and its living standards.
I wanted to know what would be the avg expenses in terms of household,rental,daily expenses,taxes, etc in terms of usd $.
Are there any English schools in Kobe and if it's possible to manage without knowing Japanese?
Any additional information is appreciated.