Adventures in Japan

Day the Next: Okayama and Kurashiki

It rained quite a bit last night, but today was sunny and nice. Which is lucky because the plan was to walk around a garden and see another castle while we were in Okayama.

We took a little detour on our way to the garden and found a statue of Momotaro. Momotaro is a very strong little boy who was born when an old man (soon to be his adopted grandfather) tried to cut open a giant peach he had found floating down the river.


The gardens were very green. A lot of that green was due to all the grass. Living in Osaka, I think this is the most turf we've seen in forever.


And whilst we were walking along the lawn we happened across some Japanese theater.


Kagura, Carla tells me. She's always right.

We didn't actually go in to Okayama castle. We were running short on time. And we've seen the insides of a fair few castles recently. The castle looked nice from the outside. Pretty black. Which is why it is also known as the Crow Castle.


After walking around ancient castle grounds we rode a train so we could walk around slightly less ancient streets.

There is a neighbourhood in Kurashiki that has been preserved since the 17th century. With white walled buildings built along a tree lined canal. It is prettily atmospheric. Its shops are also nice. As is its Museum of Art. Nice place to spend a sunny afternoon.


Kurashiki also has


Tivoli Park. Which is either based on or is an exact replica of a theme park of the same name in Copenhagen. Having just googled the name I now know that Tivoli Park, the original, is totally frickin old. So if its rollercoaster is as slow as the Japanese one, that is understandable. It is frickin old. The Japanese one? No excuse! I've seen octogenarians with walkers going uphill that are faster than that roller coaster. Lame.

Outside the park, there is a Hans Christian Andersen clock/fountain. It is near the foot of said fountain/clock that we caught our night bus. How do I hate night buses? Let me count the way: LOTS!!!!!

Stuff I didn't fit in anywhere else:

Getting kaiten sushi (sushi on a conveyor belt) just before the shop closes is a stupid idea. It's just the dregs of the day endlessly spinning round and round.

In the same building as the sad, sad sushi was a shop called Luca. I give you one chance to guess what floor it lived on.