Kochi Castle and Katsurhama Beach – Kochi, Japan via the Diamond Princess Cruise ship — Day 8

Kochi Castle and Katsurhama Beach – Kochi, Japan via the Diamond Princess Cruise ship — Day 8

hello it’s day eight on the Diamond Princess Japan Circle cruise and here we are in coochi Japan welcome to coochi Japan coochi is the capital city of the coochi prefecture located on the island of shikuku in Japan I believe it’s like Monday August 12th it’s about 8:30 a.m. and uh I signed up for this coachi Castle tour and uh goes to the beach also all right let’s go had a pretty rough night last night again which one three this one or this one have together so we going to the pass d i was the last person on the bus where coming to [Music] C my name yep our guide will be tamoko she’ll be taking us on this tour today first we’re going to take a short bus ride over to the beach here and then uh to a museum and then to a castle all right I think we’re going to the castle first not sure we’re on a people the bus is transmission grinds as it downshifts to climb this steep mountainous Hill here overlooking the ocean pretty sick views to be honest the first stop of this tour will be katsur Hama Park home to katar Hama Beach a very nice Beach they won’t even let you go on the sand though as you’ll see at one point in this vog very Scenic though like beautiful outlooks um we recommended to Brink everything but actually not stor but we just in case the bar things at Le please bring with you look there’s the ship over there C miror Beach or something can’t see I don’t know I booked this last night we’re in like a tropical region of Japan now with like palm trees and stuff we have an aquarium here nice Katsu hmer this park had some really breathtaking views and I highly recommend this excursion um if you’re in southern Japan definitely check it out over here at Metro Beach here’s another one I’m probably going to have issues pronouncing catsu Hammer Beach yeah it looks cool I’m going to go down to the water obviously they don’t allow swimming here because of uh supposedly they get like some large waves occasionally so so I am ascending to the top of this pathway goes to the left once you climb up the stairs and uh nice rock face here oh there’s a big statue over here check this out this is uh this is why they have this path here all right how do I pronounce this cats cats Hama katsu aama cat cat surama all right not sure who this guy is but uh he seems to be a badass because someone built him a big ass statue on top of a mountain no one ever builds many statues on top of mountains [Music] there a stada right there did you see that thing uh this is a summer’s festival’s cruise and uh there’s some sort of Festival here tonight so have to come back and check that out we’re here till 11 p.m. today very nice park here being serenad by the chicas katama aquarium I follow the path down the hill and it takes me over to surama Beach here the I’m standing in front of the aquarium there’s a path that wraps around the beach up into a point over here you see that little red bell tower and there’s another amazing view there and that’s where I’m headed next nice Beach over here I’m going to walk over to that all right I might check out the aquarium first no all I got too close to the beach the cops were like oh don’t go over there it’s so dangerous chill guys this beautiful beach here no one’s allowed near the water I got within like 50 ft of the water and the beach cops came over and were like fing out in Japanese sorry guys I wasn’t going to go swimming there’s a ship in the background there got this bridge carved at a granite it’s pretty nice water here is very clean I’m over near the point where uh I believe there’s a lighthouse over here or something holy this is sick this is the point over here it’s very beautiful a little wind here cool down beautiful clear waters [Music] all right we’re only here for less than an hour so I’m going to keep moving all the path up to the red bellous and the Viewpoint continues uphill uh the other tourists turned around uh no one was really going up here but I was feeling like exploring even though I had to be back in 15 minutes figed that ACL again oh figured I would go for it definitely was worth the last bit of exertion to see the coastline here uh see it stretches down very far there and uh yeah beautiful scenery here at katsur Hama Beach all right the bus leaves in 10 minutes I’m the only person out here really so uh these stairs are extremely on level oh God jeez how far is this back here come on man don’t lighthouse I can’t go up any higher come on man right there’s a resting Point here watch it be like 3 km all right I I I got to the top you can kind of see the lighthouse over there but I’ve got like 15 minutes before the bus leaves and I’ve got some ground to cover these steps are treacherous this tour was way way worth it though glad I glad I got this all right cater Hama Beach I’m out of here back on the bus and off to coochi Castle back to bus number 102 back on bus number 102 and here we are entering the museum area and get out of the museum was just a little bit up the hill from the beach not far Sak Moto r Memorial Museum spend uh less than an hour here I believe quietly make my way through the museum and uh they had an area where you could try on the traditional clothing got my uh kimono here my set me up with this nice kimono and we got this uh my new place here you go like video okay okay all good so this is the view from the museum which is on top of the mountain check how check how far you can see it’s pretty amazing yeah they had a kimono thing where you could like try one on I just grabbed the largest one possible which is a 4X but I madean a fit I mean it was wasn’t it was I feel like yeah 4X is about it makes about sense but uh mean I guess if you’re 5X things not going to fit all right the museum here was pretty cool got to try on a kimono had a nice view of the beach this you can they even have rooftop access but it’s pretty hot out here so all right back on the bus we lucky we came here earlier so we didn’t have the so many going the you see that St and 84% of the total R area in C is Mountain we hop back on to bus number 102 and begin our commute towards coochi Castle tomoko near Eight our way here as we cross another long bridge [Music] here they pasta and good looking drinking is a and take the I say like facing the we can see some large ocean worthy Freighters over here sitting in dock here tomoko mentioned how mountainous the scenery is here 80% mountains if you are going to take the shut she’s talking about the passengers that don’t want to take the tour bus back to the cruise ship that want to stay around the castle area around this downtown area here we walk you can see again that the shoing AR I noticed a rehearsal or something going on with these guys with the red pants over here uh possibly for the yosai festival I have no [Music] idea coochi Castle is one of just 12 Japanese castles to have survived the fires Wars and other catastrophes of the post feudal age of Japan it was first constructed between 1601 and 1611 ad built but most of its main buildings date from 1748 when they were reconstructed after a major [Music] fire too cool welcome to coochi Castle this this is a posto Japanese Castle it’s original it’s not a replica all right this building behind me is just one of the gate houses to the castle it’s designed to keep invading Intruders out now we have to climb these staircases to get into the actual castle Castle up [Music] there there 140 steps Castle is in sight now just uh a lot of steps taking these water bottles was a mistake is pretty cool lots of lots of steps though so be prepared for a vertical incline here all right our tour group is entering the museum there is no toilets a little shaded area [Applause] here much alike my house no shoes allowed in the castle they have some lockers with some keys you can check your shoes in but yeah no shoes allowed and uh basically the floor made of these bamboo mats and such and wood uh mostly a lot of Cedar in there it’s very smells smells nice inside the castle here on the first floor no shoes little head clearance dang look at this I think it’s a measure of how old the tree is or events in history freezer amazing what’s this uh five stories Castle all wood the carpentry is amazing they’ve added a fire suppression system here I guess this was the original City or Village around the castle check out these stairs it’s like super steeping the levels of the tower I believe we’re on like level four now but it’s only like four or five levels total see how high up we are oh [Music] wow pretty impressive these floors are getting smaller and smaller spe top here of the coochi castle I think it’s level five yeah sick view it’s all all carpentry all Lumber pretty sick amazing I don’t think the city of kochu is that big sick just a bit afraid of fights just felt my knee buckling I was like oh boy would not be a nice tumble there yeah we’re about 30 minutes from the cruise ship or so uh decided not to go back with the tour and uh cuz we’re going to be in town till 11:00 p.m. and there’s a Dance Festival tonight or today so believe the festival starts at 10000 p.m. they put a lightning rod in here this is a copper or copper grounding cable it’s pretty cool probably to prevent fires with this wooden structure amazing panoramic view here from the top of the coochi tower the top of the tower of the coochi castle hey you got a 360° view basically of the entire the entire city of coochi really impressive like I did not think this was a large city wow and the breeze is amazing oh oh I think you like the one in St [Music] I think the wood they built this out of a cedar cuz it smells amazing it’s like a giant cigar humidor it’s like a It’s Kind like a sauna kind of all right guys I’m uh wrapping up my tour here at uh coochi Castle uh the festival The Dance Festival starts at uh at 1 it’s like 12:30 so maybe they’re doing like a sound check or something so maybe they’re doing a sound check but uh yeah there you go lost my train of thought but anyway coochi Castle was awesome six stories up to the top of that top area there okay C pinch Zoom you can get to the very top and uh those shots and videos uh up there got some panoramics it’s pretty awesome but uh yeah it’s like 12:35 in my the tour officially you’re supposed to be on the bus by 12:40 so I’m trying to make the decision whether I should get back on the bus go back to the ship we’re like 40-minute drive from the bus or or from the ship or I could stay in coochi and see the Dance Festival that’s starting now but and then I’d have to find my own way back and the lady said Ubers here are pretty much non-existent so I’d have to take a taxi a 30-minute taxi ride here could be cost like $100 us but it might be worth it if there’s something going on you know what I’m saying I definitely can’t walk back I don’t know I I have like five minutes to decide what I’m going to do I can’t and take the the tour bus back to the cruise ship you know take a shower regroup and head out again so maybe I’ll do that all right signing off here from coochi Japan talk to you later guys I don’t know what’s worse on my knee going up or down ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch [Applause] I better get back because the lady’s going to leave me oh no this is the Dance Festival last [Music] day cut through here [Music] there is the festival in the background there there’s large Gathering of people here got a few minutes left believe the bus is bus is over here [Music] R so the yosai festival is starting to kick off there I think that was the opening ceremony for the last day of the festival and this cruise is a cruise themed around the Summer Festival so I obviously have to go to that I’m going to take the bus bus number 102 back to the ship take a shower get ready and head back to the yosai festival and that’ll be the part two of the coochi Vlog so stay tuned for that all right guys thanks for checking out this Vlog with katar Hama Beach and coochi castle

Day 8 of the Japan circle cruise on the Diamond Princess, takes us to the city of Kochi, Japan. I sign up for an excursion on the ship and hop on the tour bus that takes me to the beautiful and serene Katsurhama Beach. It is literally one of the most scenic spots I’ve seen, anywhere on Earth. After that, we hop back on the bus and it takes us over to the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum for a tour to absorb some history. Finally, we jump back on the bus and head over to the massive Kochi Castle. This five story wooden castle is over 5 stories tall and over 4 centuries old! Impressive. I definitely recommend this tour!

For part 2 of my day in Kochi, I bus back over to the final day of the Yosakai dance festival in Kochi. Stay tuned for that vlog coming up next!

Cruise itinerary:
August 1st: Depart Detroit
August 2nd: Arrive in Tokyo
August 2nd-5th: Enjoy Tokyo
Aug 5th : Board Diamond Princess cruise ship and depart Tokyo (Yokohama)
Aug 6th: At Sea
Aug 7th: Aomori 8:00AM 11:00PM
Aug 8th: At Sea
Aug 9th: Sakaiminato 8:00AM 6:00PM
Aug 10th: Busan 8:00AM 6:00PM
Aug 11th: At Sea
Aug 12th: Kochi 7:00AM 11:59PM
Aug 13th: Tokushima 9:00AM 11:59PM
Aug 14th: At Sea
Aug 15th: Tokyo (Yokohama) 6:30AM