Author: Toren

Kurashiki (倉敷) is located in Okayama Prefecture, not far from the prefectural capital of Okayama City. Kurashiki has a preserved canal area that dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1867), when the city served as an important rice distribution center. In fact, the name “Kurashiki” can be roughly translated as “town of storehouses” in reference to the rice storehouses.

Many of Kurashiki’s former storehouses have been converted into museums, boutiques and cafes. The Ohara Museum is the most impressive of Kurashiki’s museums, exhibiting a large collection of works by famous Western artists. The canal area is a ten minute walk from Kurashiki Station.

HERE IT IS ON GOOGLE MAPS ->[CLICK IF YOU CARE]

Shopping Arcade

Several blocks of open air covered walkway with all kinds of shops and restaurants

BETTER LIFE – a housewares shop where I bought an ogre towel

Chez Kobeya for katsu (they had lassi!)

Fun Gachapon (toy machine) shop – I bought three (none of them pictured)

Imagine if you will a shop in Japan dedicated to American kitsch. That shop is: Golden Nugget Buddies, named after the MacDonaldland characters

Strange purple yam ice cream to delight and offend the senses

Toy/Candy store run by a nice little old lady included tons of Ultraman figures I haven’t seen in the new stores – bought one! This place is called おくだ商店

Achi Jinja Shrine

It is located on the top of Mt. Tsurugata, a perfect viewing spot overlooking the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, and has a Noh stage and an ancient garden based on Horai philosophy within its grounds. The natural monument “Achi no Wisteria”, which is estimated to be 300 to 500 years old, is also worth seeing.

Unfortunately we didn’t explore this much, due to bad knees.

reverse angle courtesy Fred Bremmer

Saw koi and swans in the canal

OHOARA MUSEUM OF ART

Where you can find Rodin, Picasso, Gaugin, Monet, Signac, Lutrec, cezanne, Klee, Kandinksy, Pollock. No photos allowed inside unfortunately.

DENIM STREET

Where you can find blue cream soda flavor soft serve and blue bao.

LIVING MOMOKA peach croquette and Ghibli merch

Miffy Bakery

Momotarō (桃太郎, Japanese pronunciation: [mo.moꜜ.ta.ɾoː],^[1][2] lit. ’Peach Boy’) is a popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as Peach Boy, but is directly translated as Peach + Tarō, a common Japanese given name. Momotarō is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero.

There is a popular notion that Momotarō is a local hero of Okayama Prefecture, but this claim was invented in the modern era. This notion is not accepted as consensus in scholarly circles.

Kurashiki Ivy Square

Formerly a spinning factory, now a hotel (with another koi pond)

ASOBOUYA Variety Store – lots of kaiju toys, M.U.S.C.L.E. men (Kinnikuman), Owner smelled of cigarettes. Cluttered and awesome.

As wikipedia says – Naoshima is an island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums.

Don’t visit on a Monday! The galleries are closed! We learned this the hard way.

Getting there

The closest city with a JR station is Okayama, a cool place with lots of its own destinations (like a castle) which I will blog about another time.

If you happen to be doing a day trip from Okayama, you’ll want to leave as early as you can because it will take at least 1.5 hours transit time to get there, and the ferry schedule is limited. And be sure you plan your trip back as well to ensure you have enough time and aren’t rushing.

There are two ferry docks, one that takes cars and one for foot passengers only. The food passenger one is smaller, obviously, and I think it’s faster, and is actually less comfortable.

Getting Around

If you arrive in Miyanoura Port, make sure you check out Marine Station, they had a special pumpkin cream puff/macaron type thing. You’ll have to buy the ticket at the vending machine and hand the ticket to the clerk to get your sweet treat. We’ll check back later to see how that went for me 😀

Right at the ferry port, you can see artist Yayoi Kusama’s red pumpkin. You can go inside it!

I expect you could rent a car or something but we went with bicycles. During the off season (December/January) the only Bike Rental place that’s open is Ougiya. Make sure you check the tires, brakes, etc – mine required a bit of tweaking before we rolled out.

On the opposite side of the island, at Honmura Port, you can find some giant bubbles in which to park your bike, if you are so inclined. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nihsizawa. Fun stuff!

Naoshima Noodles

Right next to a supermarket (Mitsubishi Materials Naoshima Co-op) there’s a little ramen place called Naoshima Noodles [google link]. We arrived just before lunch and the place was completely empty. We struggled a bit trying to decipher the ticket machine that you use to place your order, but there is an English menu available to help you translate – just ask for it! Just a few minutes after we got our ramen, hordes of salarymen came in to crowd the place.

From here we rode our bikes up a winding steep hill to get to the “Amazing View Spot” on the map above. It was a bit rough, even with electric-assist bikes! But we made it! There’s an orange pumpkin down there somewhere….

Down the hill (scary slope and curves – ride slow) we found Tsutsuji-So Seaside Park. There’s a bus stop here and a beach! Must be nice when it’s not JANUARY!

Time to try my pumpkin macaron – pretty good! Very rich and sweet, a bit of a trial to finish the whole thing by myself.

Plants!