Okayama

About Okayama
Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture, known for its beautiful gardens and castle. The city is easily accessible by shinkansen, so you can reach it from Tokyo in under four hours, or from Osaka in just over an hour.

Visit one of Japan’s Three Great Gardens
The most famous attraction of Okayama is Korakuen Garden, which is known as one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan (the others being Kenroku-en in Kanazawa and Kairaku-en in Mito). The garden was originally constructed in 1687 by the local feudal lord for his family and esteemed guests. It has gone through various hardships over time including flooding and bombing, but is always then renovated to its original state.

The spacious garden is decorated with typical landscape garden elements such as a large pond, stone bridges, and a hill that makes a great lookout point. There are also good views of Okayama Castle in certain areas.

If you are visiting Japan in spring or autumn, make sure to visit Korakuen Garden, as it is particularly beautiful in cherry blossom season and when the autumn leaves colour the park. There are even light-up events later in the year!

Other attractions in Okayama
Okayama was once a powerful castle town, so there are a lot of interesting cultural and historic elements to the city. One of the most notable are the Momotaro statues and decorations. Momotaro (AKA Peach Boy) was said to have been born from a giant peach in a famous folktale, and you’ll see him everywhere! There are also plenty of museums, shrines, and the Kadayama Botanical Gardens to explore, or you can go a bit outside of the city to see the historic townscape of Kurashiki or the modern art of Naoshima