Japan Trip 2024: Day 4 Makino Botanical Gardens and Ulfuls in Kochi

Taking the tram from Kochi station. Took me a while to figure out that the train network for Kochi was a cross and that you changed trains once you reached the middle to get where you wanted to go.

Inside the information centre where I bought a bus ticket.

Looks like Kochi is an sacred place for this anime.

My main aim before the Ulfuls concert was the Makino botanical gardens.

Map of the botanical gardens.

Dr Makino is the father of Japanese botany. Just realised that he is the character played by Kamiki Ryunosuke in the asadora Ranman!

Recreation of Dr Makino's study.

This amazing contraption tells Dr Makino's story while it moves.

Beautiful.

I don't think I went down there...

You can see the greenhouse in the distance.

Finally arrived at greenhouse....

By the jdorama gods, WTF is this???!!!!

This looks like something out of Ico or The Last Guardian!

I saw the pictures when I was looking for places to go in Kochi but standing there looking at something out of a game from Team Ico was surreal.

This goddamn greenhouse at Makino Botanical Gardens is amazing. 

One of the best I have been to and I have been a lot of botanical gardens.

Feels like they could shoot a movie here.

One more picture of that amazing sky roof. 

Next door to the botanical gardens.....

..is this amazing scenery. You can see a couple taking wedding pictures on the steps. It just looks so amazing.

Chukurinji temple on Mt Godai.

I went back by bus after that. There were other places to go like the Sakamoto Ryoma statue further on the bus route but saving that for next time.

Went to a book off a bit out of the way but did not find anything.

Went back to the Kochi market and had sushi for very late lunch.

Ah, so the anime is Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime. Will definitely put it on the list.

On the way to check out the concert hall.

The biggest building in Kochi. I went to scout the venue and then went back to hotel for a shower and then back early to buy goods. I always go early for goods in case they get sold out.

The first song that made me a fan of Ulfuls was Abaredasu. I can remember downloading the PV from jpopsuki or something on irc. It is Kira's favourite song too and we both said they have to sing it.

I like they provided samples to look at. I am not a diehard Ulfuls fan because there are some songs that I am meh about like Gutsdaze which everyone knows. I really liked them because Banzai was my go to song everytime I was drinking in Osaka aka Air's Clover in Tenmabashi. 

By the powers that be, the prices are so good. I hate it when artists try to rip of fans. (looking at you Onitsuka Chihiro) I got the white t-shirt with the characters from Abaredasu and the concert venues at the back. (Very important element of concert t-shirt) and of course a towel!

Ulfuls near year eve live in Osaka. Damn, wish I could go.

Hhmm, I have run into Imai Miki again....

There is this manga museum in the building!

I love Japan. Manga museums everywhere! Oh yeah, I went to the famima next door for some famichiki.

Everyone queueing up enter. For those jdorama fans who don't know Ulfuls, the main singer Tortoise Matsumoto acts quite a bit and was in Ryomaden.

Amazing amazing seats. Same as being in a live house. The concert was great. I did not know the songs in the first half but two songs that caught my attention were Yassa! Korekare ondo which was the Ulfuls version of an okinawa song and it is basically a cheer song and Atsui go Suki.

The final song was Waraereba which I already knew but made appreciate it more. Made me think how come I never sung this song before? The encore songs were of course Ee Nen! and Banzai, my two favourite Ulfuls songs to sing! Unfortunately no Abaredasu, if not it would been perfect! 

Only 3 of the original members of Ulfuls were left. The keyboard dude is a young dude and the main guitar guy is and old friend of the band.

Going to concerts in small towns is awesome because the venues are smaller and there was a good mix of fans. Going to Ulfuls in Kochi cost me a lot more because I had to get a 2 week JR pass instead of 1 and extended my Kansai time but it was worth it. I would definitely see Ulfuls again. 

Had Katsuo for dinner at the market. Owner was there and no one else came in so we talked Street Fighter for a few hours. He sad the best katsuo was from the izakayas and not the market. He also told me that there was actually a gaming shop in Kochi called Superfreaks which took a bit of time to get too. Have to save that for next trip.

The most interesting thing was the girl working the bar yesterday was actually the owner of a concept cafe aka concafe nearby. I remember this regular at GranBleu last trip telling me about how much money he spent at a concafe in Akiba. Concafe is basically maidcafe meets kyabakura and I have never been to one. The owner said that girl's concafe should be fine but to be careful because there are a lot of bottakuri concafe's out to steal your money.