A fine castle and a memorable experience with our guide Yoshi - We were three couples on a cruise round the South of Japan and we spent a day in Kochi with our guide Yoshi in early April. I had been in communication with him before our trip asking if he could arrange a tea ceremony for us which he did at Kochi castle museum; an experience we all thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately it rained heavily for most of the day but we enjoyed the castle the blossom there, and the views from the top. Lunch took rather longer than it might have with translation difficulties ordering a gluten free meal, so we only had a short visit to Makino Gardens, which would have been beautiful in good weather. Thanks to Yoshi for a very pleasant day.

Perfect Day in Kochi - Our guide, Koba picked us up at the cruise terminal for a private tour in Kochi. He showed us the highlights of Kochi and explained us a lot about the history, a tasty lunch, no rush, exactly as we hoped to be. We had a beautiful day thanks to his great guiding. Do you go to Kochi, we really recommend Koba!

Wonderful and Exceptional Tour and Day - Our tour guide and driver were excellent. Professional, timely, informative, pleasant and very helpful. We had a wonderful day. I highly recommend our tour and guides.

Great experience! - Yoshi did an exceptional job taking us around Kochi. The dance museum was a lot of fun. He took us to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant that was great.

A great day in Kochi in spite of the rain! - When Holland America’s Westerdam arrived in Kochi it (and we) were met by pouring rain. We were also met by our tour guide Kobay. A former high school teacher and life-long resident of Kochi, he was very knowledgeable about the area, and he had the personality to make us feel like we had met a new friend. Since the rain was still pouring down when we departed the maritime terminal we had to focus our explorations on a limited area or spend the whole day sopping wet. The attraction we focused on was the beautiful Kochi Castle. We spent the initial part of our visit at the Castle’s main gate (from which you can see the Castle itself on the hill nearby) listening to Kobay talk about the great historical events that had occurred there since construction was completed in 1611. Our next (and favorite) stop was at the Castle Historical Museum, where we spent hours viewing displays of period costumes, cooking and eating vessels and weapons, among many other items. In entering the galleries, visitors are offered the opportunity to make their own postcards of the Castle through an ancient block printing process. We heartily recommend allowing time at the end of your visit to go to the Museum’s Tea/Coffee Shop, where over a beautiful cappuccino and coffee, our discussions ranged from Japanese history, language and culture to origami, the basics of which Kobay demonstrated at the table. Our visit concluded with him accompanying us back to the ship terminal. It was still raining …but thanks to Kobay, we’d had a great day!

Wonderful unexpected memorable guided experience to Koce - Koba, our Private Guide took us to the Sunday market which was one of the largest in Japan, so many great locally produced and grown items we never knew about, not to be missed. We then went to the Hirome Ichiba food court for lunch. What an experience! Never seen anything like it because of the scale, volume, choices, people, etc. We had an Anthony Boudain experience that day at lunch, ate with an elderly local gentleman and shared sake and lunch items from the market stalls. We were noty expecting to have such as memeorable time in Koce as we did. We did a half day walking tour to shop and eat the local treats of Kochi. We will definitely be coming back because of our guide Koba. Koba is a long time resident of Kochi and speaks excellent English. We highly endorse Koba as a guide.

Great experience! - Yamamoto was a great guide--he worked with me in advance on what to see in the time I had and how to get around given my mobility issues. It was pouring rain, and I cannot do many steps, and he remembered a back way to the temple that had no steps at all! We found a wonderful knife shop, and he helped me choose a knife with the help of the merchant who spoke little English. I even went back to that shop on a later stop in Kochi. Thank you, Yamamoto, for a wonderful experience!