Kochi with preschoolers (4–6) 3 spots
Kochi is warm, wide-open coast behind a wall of mountains. Bonito is seared over a straw fire at the table, and Anpanman was drawn here, so his face is on the local trains and his museum is up in the hills.
Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
Shikoku's only full-scale botanical garden, 8 hectares of hillside holding over 3,000 kinds of plants.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
A covered market of more than 60 stalls, two minutes from Kochi Castle.
Stroller OK · Nursing room · Changing table · checked Aug ’26
One of Japan's three great limestone caves, 175 million years old, with a free museum.
Nursing room · Changing table · Family restroom · checked Aug ’26
One of the model courses is a four-hour "Enjoy it together! A full loop of the botanical garden," which covers the whole hilly 8-hectare site on your own feet. The Makino QR Guide on a smartphone gives commentary on the plant or exhibit in front of you plus a you-are-here map, in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. The Exhibition Hall has the permanent display on Dr. Tomitaro Makino and a 4K cinema, the Exhibition Hall Theater.The main areas take about two hours, and last admission is 16:30. Collecting plants or insects is not allowed, and that includes taking home fallen leaves, twigs, fruit or acorns. On a wet day there is a 90-minute "Botanical garden in the rain" course, with the Main Building, Exhibition Hall, greenhouse and Plant Research and Exchange Center all under cover. Umbrellas, for rain or sun, are lent free at the ticket windows (no reservations, limited numbers). The garden closes for maintenance a few days a year — in 2026 on 8/31, 9/28, 10/26 and 11/30.
The hall is laid out in seven blocks with names like Ojoka Plaza and Ryoma Street, and along with the places to eat there are fishmongers, butchers, general goods and clothing shops, so a child can walk it and pick the stall they want. If you carry a Ryoma Passport, 500 yen or more spent on food or goods earns one stamp, pressed at the information counter inside.It is two minutes on foot from Kochi Castle and about fifteen minutes from JR Kochi Station. On Sundays the Sunday market takes over next door, so until evening the parking garage uses only the south entrance. The garage takes vehicles up to 2.2 m high, and its machines do not accept 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000 yen notes.
A clay pot used by people of the Yayoi period some 2,000 years ago now stands wrapped in limestone, part of the rock itself, and you can look straight at it. The cave has Wi-Fi, so you can read the free "Pocket Gakugeiin" app's text guide in English as you walk. There is a number to tell them, too: the cave took 175 million years to form.The Adventure Course, the cave's headline experience, runs about 90 minutes, takes elementary school age and up, and is booked by phone the day before. It is guided in Japanese only, and the cave states in English that anyone who does not understand Japanese cannot join. So walk the sightseeing course, which needs no booking, while they are preschool, and come back for the Adventure Course once they start school — that way you get both. Projection mapping is suspended or cancelled for long stretches, so check the notice for your date. Admission is 1,500 yen for adults, 600 yen for elementary school children and free for preschoolers, but the fee table is still annotated 2014, so confirm on 0887-53-2144.