Kochi again

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2023_Blog 24_Japan



April 13 Port of Call: Kochi, Japan – Weather: Partly cloudy - 65°F/18°C – Wind: 7 mph.



Today we had a return visit to this city and once again all the shore excursions were sold out and there were no cancellations, so we opted to do some exploring on our own. Unlike our previous visit today was sunny, pleasantly warm, and most importantly DRY, no rain. The shore excursion team arranged for round trip shuttle busses, at $25 each, to take us on a half-hour ride to the local bus depot in the center of town where we could explore as we wished.

Our map reading skills were put to the test and after walking from the bus depot nothing matched up to either the paper map we were carrying or Google Maps. Fortunately for us a very nice young lady who was waiting at a crosswalk beside us helped point us in the right direction.

Our destination was the city’s multi block long covered shopping mall in the Shikoku area.

While walking through the mall we came upon a store selling kimonos. They had set up a display of two beautiful kimonos, designed for brides, out in the middle of the isle; you couldn’t miss them.

At one end of the mall area was Hairmayabashi, a tiny 20-metre-long red bridge which is one of the city’s better-known landmarks. The bridge crosses a small canal and its fame came from a legendary tale about the star-crossed love between a Buddhist monk and a merchant’s daughter. The bridge was their rendezvous point. The monk was exiled out of the country while the merchant’s daughter was sent to the East.

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