On Jan 9, 11:06 pm, CL <flot...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Declan Murphy wrote:
> > Question! What else is there in Kochi? I did the castle, museum down
> > by the beach (wouldn't want to go there in winter though).
>
> Good question.  During Edo-jidai, Tosa-shi was a wide open city.  I've
> read several contemporary accounts that describe it as the Coventry of
> its day.  If you ran to escape prosecution or were wanted for a crime,
> once you made it within the gates of Tosa-shi, you had the protection of
> the Tosa daimyo.  Things that were illegal in the rest of Japan were
> also illegal in Tosa, but if you didn't break the laws there they would
> not allow anyone to come in and take you away and they ignored a whole
> lot of borderline behavior.

Yeesshhh. But that was because they were (OK, well, are?) so inbred
that they need a fresh injection of DNA, yunno, a different source of
baby batter.

> It was also okay to openly plot the
> downfall of enemies in other domains as long as you didn't include
> causing trouble in Tosa in your plans.

Isolation by sea can have its advantages.

> And now you go to modern-day Kochi and it's like its been sterilized,
> neutered, and lobotomized.  It's one of the least memorable places I
> have been in Japan.

Dull? Yes. Original Poster - the hinterlands have rafting, debauchery
yada yada yada, but not in January.