KOCHI #1-Ino, relaxing and cozy little village
KOCHI
Do you know where Kochi prefecture? It's in the Shikoku Island. We call Shikoku. That's easier, please remember.
It consists from 4 prefectures (regions). Shi means 4 and Koku means regions or countries, so Shikoku means 4 regions. Anyway, Kochi is one of that and locates the west & south area facing to the Pacific ocean.
Kochi is very famous for lots of natures. Oceans, mountains, forests, rivers and fileds. Agriculture is one of the important industry. Vegetables, fruits, rice... I think Kochi is one of the richest harvest land in Japan.
I often go to Kochi with my hubby. He does surfing. Yes! Kochi is one of the greatest place to surf!
Sunny, good wave, nice winds from mountain and oceans, good food and cold beer! That's perfect, isn't it?
A few months ago, I visited some places in Kochi by car. Our first visit was Ino. Ino locates in the center of Kochi and very close to the city of Kochi (20-30 minutes by car or tram trains are also available).
Ino is very famous for the Niyodo River. Surrounding beautiful mountains and under the blue sky, we can say "Niyodo Blue" to describe it's beautiful blue water.
Ino is also famous for Tosa Washi. Tosa means Kochi in old Japanese. Washi means the Japanese traditional paper. Because of digital era, demanding of typewriter paper has been sharply decreasing and shifted to made in China product, but Tosa Washi was used as typewriter paper all over the world and it covered 90% of the typewriter paper at the most peak time. There is Tosa Washi Craft Village "QRAUD" (same pronunciation as cloud). You can stay there, experience workshops and restaurant there!
Ino is a sort of relaxing and cozy small village. Just walking with a can of beer or ice cream alongside the river bank at the sunset time is really marvelous!
Information (All in Japanese but you can get some information):
Ino Tourist office http://www.inofan.jp/
Tosa Washi Village QRAUD http://www.qraud-kochi.jp/
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