Okayama

Culture, attractions
and entertainment

Okayama is home to Koraku-en Garden, one of Japan's three most beautiful traditional landscape gardens, along with Kenroku-en in Kanazawa and Kairaku-en in Mito. The garden is located near Okayama Castle, which is also called “Crow Castle” due to the color of its walls. It was created during the Edo period as a place of entertainment for the ruling samurai clan. This garden is considered the main attraction of Okayama. Okayama Castle was built back in 1597, during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and was destroyed during World War II. The current castle building was reconstructed in 1966. The castle is located on the banks of the Asahi River - and on the other bank is Koraku-en Park. Part of the castle is the “moon viewing tower”, popular among tourists. And just a short drive from Okayama is the ancient city of Kurashiki. Its name translates as “rice warehouses”: historically, since the Edo period, it was an important center for the storage and distribution of rice supplies. This city, where an artificial canal connects the port and warehouses, retains the picturesque atmosphere of that time and is practically an open-air museum with a number of specialized museums. Among them are the Ohara Art Museum, the Crafts Museum, the Archaeological Museum and the Toy Museum, which displays traditional toys from all 47 prefectures of Japan. A separate hall of the museum is dedicated to the famous Japanese daruma dolls. In addition, it is worth noting the Ohashi House, an elegant building in the traditional Japanese “machaya” style, the family affiliation of a large local merchant family. Okayama City can be reached by plane in less than an hour and a half from Tokyo Haneda Airport. In addition, you can travel from Tokyo by the Shinkansen super express in four hours.