Kochi!

Tuesday, July 19

So, obviously I’m a little behind on the blogging.  I blame the craziness of the Republican National Convention.  Once you start watching it, it’s just really hard to turn away.  Anyway, today was another excursion day, this time in Kochi.

Definitely a highlight for me (of the day and the cruise) was Ryugado Cave.  This is one of the three largest limestone caves in Japan, and the tour was “not recommended for guests with limited mobility or claustrophobia.”  So… sometimes I think that the “warnings” and “levels of difficulty” for excursions are exaggerated.  This was not the case.

Keep in mind, there were four busloads of people moving through a cave single file, which ultimately took approximately 45 minutes to move through.  Our tour guide told us ahead of time that a few years ago, a sumo wrestler went through the caves, and came out complaining of a scratched belly button – if that was his only injury, he was the most agile sumo wrestler on the planet.  In several places, the ceiling of the cave was so low that we almost had to crawl, and the walls were often so tight that we had to approach them sideways.  We went up, down, and side to side.

All that said, the limestone formations were really neat, and we got to see a bunch of underground waterfalls.  And, even better, it was cool and not at all humid underground!!  Even with all the people!!  I love the caves! We should all move underground!  I’ll add some pictures soon, but it was just a really interesting and different thing to do.  (You can't really tell, but we're in front of an underground waterfall)

After the caves, we went to a castle in the heart of Kochi, which had some great photo opportunities (because, like everything else in Japan, it was at the top of very, very many stairs).  Our guide pointed out that the stairs were all uneven because it discouraged barbarians from storming the castle – Success!!  We didn’t actually go into the castle, but we did get a full description of how the drainage system worked (and still works, ~250 years later).  I’m not sure why that was one of the big highlights, but thank goodness for those civil engineers.

The last stop of the day was at Katsurahama Beach, which was described as a statue on a hill (because of course it was) and some souvenir shops.  I’ll fill in some additional information on the statue when Troy wakes up (trying to spell Japanese names is making spell check freak out a little bit, and I seem to be making it worse), but let me speak to something that I have way more experience with.  Souvenir shops.

I’ve been a bit disappointed by the souvenir shops in Japan, and these were no different.  It just seems like most of what tourists are being sold is either unidentifiable food stuffs or small toys similar to those that you would see coming out of a 50-cent vending machine.  The US Liberty Bell pencil sharpener was a highlight.  All I’m really looking for is a nice refrigerator magnet, a few postcards, and a couple of gifts or mementos from the trip.  Thus far, no dice.

That said, tomorrow our stop is Nagasaki, and I am determined to persevere in my search for a magnet.  It will happen.  We’re also hoping for a cruise ship trivia win – no luck there so far either.  We did make a new trivia friend, who’s a geologist from New York.  Tomorrow will be our day!