KOCHI (高知) - SHIKOKU

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Kochi (高知) is located in the southwestern part of Japan. Its capital is Kochi City.
Kochi, known in ancient times as Tosa (土佐), and is famous for its many rivers.
Sightseeing Spots in Kochi
Kochi-jo Castle Harimaya-bashi Bridge Cape Muroto
Cape Ashizuri Tatsukushi Minokoshi Shikoku Karst

Fast Fact - Kochi Prefecture

It offers a lot, from Kochi city which sits at the foot of Kochi castle, and the Yosakoi-Matsuri Festival – which is filled with many travelers with every year – to many beautiful clear rivers, magnificent coastline of Tosa with the sandy beaches of Cape Muroto at one end of the bay and Cape Ashizuri at the other.
These coastal areas are ideal for swimming, surfing, fishing and whale-watching. The area also boasts rugged mountains and the limestone caves of Ryu-ga-do.
The Shimanto-gawa River, which starts its journey in the mountains of Tsuno Town, before flowing into the Pacific Ocean, has great opportunities for fishing for river prawns and sweet fish; alternatively further downstream one can even enjoy canoeing.
We also shouldn't forget about Harimaya-bashi (Harimaya bridge) which is very famous in Japan.
Anyone can be disappointed at the Harimaya-bashi as much as one knows the name. It is one of the three most disappointing tourist spots in Japan.
Kochi has rebuilt it recently to clean its tarnished image at a total cost of about 2billion yen, however, it is still astonishingly a disappointing spot.

To pilgrims, Kochi prefecture is known as Shugyo-no-dojo (the place of practice) which is the 2nd stage of Shikoku henro (pilgrimage).
It is commonly said that Kochi is the land to test pilgrims. Tosa makes up more than a third of the pilgrimage, even though there are only 16 of the 88 temples in Kochi.
The distance between the last temple in Tokushima and the first temple in Kochi, makes a pilgrimage tough. One can't reach even a single temple for a couple of days.
Pilgrims might breathe a sigh of relief on moving into Ehime prefecture, while thinking back how hard it was to travel in Kochi, how very beautiful the coast lines and mountains were and how many things they have achieved.

Where do you want to go in Shikoku?

Shikoku Henro (Shikoku Pilgrimage)

How to get to and around Kochi

From Kansai international airport
Shinkansen route
Japan Railways
Highway bus route

Subway lines in Kansai
Buses in Shikokui

What you need in Japan and before/after in Japan

Things you need once you are in Japan!?
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