Day 9 - Tosa Yamada, Kochi University of Technology and Anpanman

We left Hiroshima early in the morning to head to Tosa-Yamada. We were going there because hubby got an invite to do a talk at Kochi University about his work. We ended up taking the shinkansen to Okayama and then transferring to a train that would take us to Kochi island. You definitely feel the difference between the bullet train and the normal train! The bullet train has a fast and smooth ride, whereas the normal train is what you would expect, shakey and juddery.

For those of you worried about getting around train stations, major stations have the signs in both English and Japanese. The signs do tend to display the Japanese version for longer than the English. Be warned though, in the smaller towns, they do not have these signs, but they just announce it over the intercom. This we found out in Tosa-Yamada >.<. For our trip from Hiroshima to Okayama, we took the Sakura 540 train, leaving at 8:18 to Okayama.

It does help if you try to learn some hiragana. For example, the train below is a nozomi 6. The signs on the bullet trains do switch from English to Japanese, but again, they do linger on the Japanese. And these trains do not stay for long within the station. The green clover-like symbol represents the green car or first class car. These are strictly reserved and they will ask for your ticket.

Another reason to learn a bit of hiragana is that you can stand on the right section of the platform to board the train quickly. The plaques on the platform indicate where the carriages or cars are located for the type of train that you are using. They do not always have English written on them. Sometimes these plaques are strung up on signs above. Remember, bullet trains tend to stay on the platform for a few minutes, so you want to get on that train as quickly as possible.

Kochi is known as the birthplace of Takeshi Yanase, the creator of Anpanman. This cartoon is probably not known much outside of Asia, but I do vaguely recall a cartoon on TV like this when I lived in Malaysia. I do remember that the characters all spoke in Chinese. Anpanman literally translates to red-bean bun/bread man. The associated characters in this cartoon generally also have bread connotations; melonpanna, currypanman. It was therefore no surprise to see Anpanman themed train carriages.

 And inside

After 4 long hours from Okayama, we arrived at Tosa-Yamada, a small country station. Of course it had to be pouring with rain. We stayed in a hotel directly next to the train station. We didn't book this hotel, it was organised by Kochi University. All I can say is that it is clean, but old.

Kochi University of Technology is located smack bang in the country side. It is an amazingly beautiful location (yes even in the pouring rain) with mountain backdrops and surrounded by rice fields. This university was set up with the aid of the Agricultural department of the Japanese government as a private university. It was to draw research to these country area and possibly help revive the local economy. It has since changed into a public university and they have a special scholarship PhD programs for foreign students wanting to study there. You can find more information here.

We were taken to the Anpanman museum (600yen entry) which is ok, but definitely geared up to little kids and majority of the stuff is in Japanese.

Then it was off the University for a quick tour and hubby gave his talk. I don't know why, but they scheduled his talk for 5pm. I guess the Japanese work ethic is generally 8am-8pm or something equivalent to a 12 hour day. Anyway...that time schedule meant that only 6 people turned up ^^;

As another treat, we got taken to a traditional Japanese restaurant. No idea where it was (it seemed to be in a residential area), or what it was called, but we had a specialty of Kochi. Katsuo no tataki is bonito seared over an open fire, leaving the centre raw. This is then sliced up, where you take a slice, top it with garlic, perilla leaf and other vegetables and herbs, then you roll it up (with great difficulty) dip it into some sauce before savouring it. In the photo below is the restaurant owner searing the bonito over a straw fire. Apparently he used to have that umbrella sheltering him when it was raining, until it caught fire o_O. In the background is Professor Hata from Kochi University of Technology.

The fish was slightly salty but had a wonderful smoky aroma. A definite must to try if you are in Kochi. The restaurant has no menu, you yell out your orders to the owners. I was a bit camera shy with taking photos in front of professors, but I did get one in. You will never guess what it is.

 We were extremely full by the time we got back to the hotel. Tosa Yamada is indeed very small and quiet.
This is what the street next to the station looks like at night.

We were told that the next day, we would be going on a tour of Kochi city!