Kochi, our third of nine stops in Japan, was planned to be a low-key day. Afterall, you cannot expect a “Kagoshima kind of day” every day, with exploding volcanos and tear-producing send offs. Kochi, with a population of 322K, has a huge Sunday market and we were going to visit it and spend our Sunday like a local.

But before we made port with our scheduled late arrival into Kochi at 10am, we attended a birthday party for our new Australian travel friend, John Powell. If you remember, John and his wife, Leanne Butterworth, planned our amazing wine tour of the Barossa Valley, along with all of the ship’s sommeliers. Today, the sommeliers had planned a beautiful birthday breakfast in the ship’s sanctuary area, and we enjoyed the sail-in to port.

Once alongside, we purchased a round-trip shuttle ticket into town, and were dropped off about 3 blocks from the edge of the market. Kochi has an arcade type of shopping district, and the Sunday market is attached to that. We had no idea that Kochi was hosting the Kochi Anicre Festival 2026, a massive Anime convention that attracts thousands to the city. If you are unfamiliar, anime is a form of animation and therefore technically a cartoon, though in English it specifically refers to animation originating from Japan. While the Japanese word “anime” refers to all animated works regardless of origin, outside Japan, it is used to distinguish Japanese animation’s unique artistic style, often featuring detailed characters and mature themes, from Western animation.

For all ages, it has gained massive global popularity, with major, acclaimed series including Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Demon Slayer. Historically and predominantly hand-drawn, anime combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques.

While we didn’t exactly blend in, we definitely got a heaping portion of local culture. Strolling through the arcade, along with families, teens, and all manner of anime characters, we witnessed their passion for their cartoons and for the themes that each imbibe. This was a wonderful people watching opportunity and we were there for it.

We found a restaurant and enjoyed a very traditional lunch with Kathryn and Kevin, and Rose and Len. Once again, we pointed at the menu and did the best we could with our choices. Sharon ended up with raw whale, which she finished but did not love. Others were more fortunate in their choices but we all agreed we were happy to have eaten in a traditional way.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed looking at some crazy balloon art, created by a local Japanese performer. We didn’t see him during the process, but we were told it did not take him long to do each piece. The detail was amazing.

Later in the evening, we said good-bye to our dear Pipin, our Waiter since the second week of this journey. Her 10-month contract will be over in Osaka and she will get to go home to her family in Jakarta, Indonesia. We’ll talk more about her, and other special crew members, in a later post. Folks, this is one special lady and she will be sorely missed.

Tomorrow: Osaka for Kyoto, Japan