Wednesday Oct 14, 2026
Hi Folks! We were docked in the port of Kochi, Japan today and did a nice tour but we walked a LOT of steps! We went to four different places, which were the Gotaisan Chikurin-ji Temple, the Kochi Castle, the Hirome-Ichiba Open Market, and the Katsura Hama (Ryuzu-misaki Lookout).
The Gotaisan Chikurin-ji Temple was a spiritually serene Buddhist temple founded in 724 that also had a five story pagoda. Many people do a pilgrimage walk (sorta like “The Way of St James” in Europe) to the 88 temples across this part of Japan and this was number 31 of those 88. It can take 40-60 days to walk to all 88 and it covers 750 miles. We saw some of the pilgrims doing their trek!
We then went to the Kochi castle. It’s one of the few original castles in Japan with its historic wooden keep, castle gates, stone walls and hilltop view over the city. We walked up over 200 steps to reach the top of the castle and they were all really high steps! It was originally built in 1600 but burned down and was rebuilt a few years later. It’s a very impressive building sitting high on the hill overlooking Kochi.
We then went to Hirome-Ichiba Open Market. We had lunch and did some shopping. It was a very lively indoor food market (sorta like a food court). The longest line was for the whale blubber. Nope, we didn’t try it! Lol. But it was a fun place with some great people watching!
Our last stop was to Katsura Hama (Ryuzu-misaki Lookout). It was a very scenic area looking out over the Pacific Ocean. Our guide said people were not allowed to swim at this beach since they’ve had accidents here due to the rocks and strong currents. There was a huge statue of a samurai named Sakamoto Ryoma there. He founded the first Japanese trading company and brought many jobs to this area.
After we got back to the ship we stopped at the shops and Kathy got this beautiful purse made out of a kimono. She’s sporting it in our dinner picture! We then got ready for dinner and ate in the main dining room. I had the Salmon and Tuna Poke for my appetizer, the Teriyaki Salmon Bowl for my main, and the Opera Cake for my dessert. Once again everything was very yummy!
After dinner we went to the show which was a solo guitarist named Nathan Sinclair. He was from Australia but studied guitar in Spain so he played some Tango, some Jazz, and some Classical. He actually just finished his PhD in music and looked like he was 32 but was actually 47! He put on a great show!
We ended the night like we like to do and that’s listening to the piano player. She has a great voice and plays lots of great piano tunes. Tomorrow we have a sea day and are really looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing! We’ve pretty much been on the go since we left the states 8 days ago. So we need this! Hope everyone had a great day.
Statue Outside Kochi Castle!
