Arrived into the port late on, so as it was pouring with rain, opted to stay onboard and enjoy the show, by a local traditional dance group. In essence it was all about kite flying with two of the group acting as kite and the one flying the kite, the rest dancing in harmony. They were accompanied by very talented musicians on traditional instruments. Wonderful show and nice to see them keeping alive local traditions.

At the show it was announced there would be a change to our itinerary due to the Kong-Rey Tropical Storm, which is en route to Taiwan, so Kochi has been added to our route, Okinawa, Ishigaki Island – Japan) & Keelung (Taiwan) moved a day forward and Kaohsiung (Taiwan) cancelled. The Captain advised this would delay us enough, in the hope the storm will have passed, but things could change if not.

We headed out for Osaka Castle the next morning by Metro, you can walk around the castle grounds and gardens for free. It is surrounded by a deep moat, with very high stone walls. There was a fee to enter the castle, which is now a museum, but we decided not to bother. Had a coffee on the nearby Roof Terrace, before looking around the many souvenir shops, definitely didn’t buy a Samurai Sword!

Unfortunately, it decided to rain much earlier than predicted, so we headed back to the ship, via a different Metro Station, past more gardens and lots of stalls selling plants, including lovely bonsai trees. Also walkway barriers with small metal birds attached, only in Japan. Could have visited one of the many shopping malls, but resisted the temptation.

There was a huge Ferris Wheel near the port, too overcast to see much. Nearby was also a huge aquarium, but tickets were sold out weeks ago, not my best planning!