Japan in the spring - Kochi

Kochi, on the island of Shikoku, seems small enough that I thought we can handle ourselves without joining a shore excursion.  The city has arranged a shuttle to take us into town from where it is a short walk to the main attractions - Kochi Castle, the Museum beside it and the Obiyamachi shopping arcade that would lead us straight to the castle.  Katsurahama Beach, another atrraction, is a bit further away but it is visible from the ship.  

Katsurahama Beach

This open air Obiyamachi arcade with a skylight made with wood has lots of shops and stalls selling local products.  The perfect walkthrough for tourists heading for the castle. - knick-knacks like ceramic chopstick rests, dolls, dried fish among others.

It was a fairly steep climb to get up to the 400 year old castle after walking through the very thick walls at the entrance.  The 17th century castle is much smaller than the one in Nagoya so it did not take long to walk through it.  There is access to the tower via some very steep ladder-like wooden steps so we decided to forego the view from the top as it's not worth the risk of breaking a leg.

This is the second gate at the top of the climb to the castle

This is a side view of the gate tower

Kochi castle like other Japanese castles have some shachihoke on its roof - the protective talisman has the head of a tiger/draagon and the body of a carp.

Carvings inside the castle

The main reception rooms

The main study of the shogun.  The calligraphy on the wall is probably in Kanji which is adapted from Chinese characters.  There is a secret chamber at the back where the shogun's body guard would be stationed ready to come out at a hint of trouble from the shogun's visitors.

View from the castle 

The moat around the castle is now decorative

The History Museum at the foot of the castle yielded surprising photo ops with its spectacular architecture.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped at a local restaurant to try Kochi's most famous local food, katsuo-no-tataki.  It is a dish of skipjack tuna or bonito fish grilled over a straw flame and served seared on the outside and rare in the center.  

The sumptuous set menu complete with bonito bottom centre, salad, soup, tempurar and dessert

The visit to Kochi was pleasant - leisurely and at our own pace.  It was a reassuring start to the rest of the trip where we will be exploring most ports on our own.  

Next stop: Kagoshima

Japan in the spring - Nagoya

Nagoya is the first port after Yokohama.  It looks like a busy shipping hub with lots of bridges and cranes all around the port.  I was glad though that the three places we visited on our shore excursion were far from commercial.  

Our first stop was the Tōshō-gū shrine, a small shrine in the Naka area.  It is small compared tot eh Meiji Jingu in Tokyo but it has essentially the same set up - the cleansing fountains, the Tori gates, the amulets and votive tablets.  It is set in a beautiful landscaped garden.  We felt like pros after having gone through all the bows and hands clapping that are part of the shrine visiting etiquette at the Meiji shrine.  

The first tori gate entrance to the shrine

The cleansing fountains

The landscaped garden beside the shrine

A local doing his hand exercises 

I had thought Nagoya Castle would be another castle with fortification and moats.  But it turned out to have some stunning art work in the castle rooms.  The surprise was that the imposing tower that stood out in photos of Nagoya Castle is actually the dungeon.  The castle proper, like most Japanese palaces, are unimposing single level buildings.  It was such a pleasure walking through the living rooms and the reception rooms inside the castle, each decorated with gorgeous murals.

Nagoya castle

The very thick walls of the castle entrance

The main palace all on one level

The entrance to the palace

The rooms were all covered with murals

The hallway leading to the reception rooms

The stunning artwork in the reception rooms

Love this one!

The Shirotori Garden (White bird) is a peaceful Japanese-style garden with koi pond, bamboo grove, springs, streams and a beautiful tea-house.  We enjoyed seeing the different kinds of flowers and trees in the garden, including an unusual spring that creates music.

One of many huge kois in the pond

Our first plum blossom

Pieris

A musical spring - you can hear it play through the bamboo pole

Bamboo grove

Entrance to the garden beside the tea house

The teahouse entrance

Inside the tea house

I was certainly pleasantly surprised by Nagoya, knowing that we had only skimmed the surface of this city in the few hours that we visited.  This was just a foretaste of the many delights yet to come on this trip.