Tiny House Otoyo
We’d arrived the night before after it had got dark, so this morning we were able to see the nice rice field and river surrounds of the Tiny House
Oboke Gorge
We started the day by driving 15mins north of where we were staying to Oboke Gorge. Here we went on a short boat ride on the Yoshino River, through part of the gorge.
Hirome Market
After our river boat ride, we headed down to the south coast of Shikoku, to the city of Kochi where we’d be spending the rest of the day.
First stop was Hirome Market, a large indoor market with lots of different cooked food stalls. You pick up what you fancy eating and then sit on big shared tables in the centre. Unfortunately a couple of the less fishy stalls I’d picked out were closed the day we visited, but we still had some super light and crispy gyozas and a pile of karaage chicken.
Harimayabashi Bridge
Next we walked through the shopping street to Harimayabashi, which was once voted as one of the three most underwhelming attractions in japan. We saw another in our previous trip, so just one more to go!
It is just a small little bridge that has it’s claim to fame in a local love story
Kochi Castle
After the excitement of the bridge, we went to Kochi Castle. Of the 100+ castles in japan, only 12 of them are original buildings. The majority were destroyed by fire or other natural disasters and are now modern reconstructions. Kochi castle is one of these 12 and its buildings are all original, from around 1600-1750.
Inside the castle were the old living quarters to look around and then the main keep to climb via the steep almost ladder like stairs. There was a good view over the city of Kochi and surrounding hills from the very top.
Makino Botanical Garden
Next we went to Mount Godaisan where we visited the Makino Botanical Garden
Chikurinji Temple
Once we had explored the botanical garden, there was still a bit of daylight, so we went over the other side of the road and had a quick walk around the grounds of Chikurinji Temple
We then contended with Kochi’s rush hour traffic and went to a couple of shops and a coco curry for a tasty dinner. They had a winter special of chicken and vegetable soup curry which was really nice. Once back at the house, we had pokemon donuts as a substitute birthday cake!
