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Okayama was toured with Takamatsu (see previous day post) and Himeji (to come...). Okayama is a fairly boring place, save for a garden and a castle. And those two alone are keeping the Okayama tourism alive.
Okayama station:
The Okayama castle is referred to as 岡山城 (okayama-jo) and was built in the late 1500's. The castle is also known as the "black" castle, or 鳥城, u-jo (one meaning of "u" is dark). This, however, is not because the colour of the castle (which, consequently, is black), but because of large flocks of crows that linger around it. The castle was destroyed by air-raids during world war II, and reconstructed in the 60's.
Corner view:
Front view:
The garden in Okayama is called Koraku-en (後楽園), it is one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan (I did get to visit another one when I was in Tokyo). We woke up around 7:00 AM so that we could get there early to avoid the crowd. The doorman was extremely nice, and gave us helpful tips in English upon learning that we were from Canada. There is really nothing much I can comment in addition to than presenting you a facet of its beauty.
(I really need to edit this one)
Kurashiki (倉敷)is a small town just west of Okayama (maybe two stops away). Kurashiki is a fairly popular tourist attraction due to its proximity to Okayama, and more importantly, its unique houses -- the buildings in Kurashiki were once storage houses, and are all painted white.
Station:
Buildings:
Unfortunately, food is nothing special at okayama (except for a single type of fish). Next blog will contain lots of pictures of food :D
  
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On May 29 2009 16:15 NeverGG wrote:Japan is so spotless - I was really surprised by the lack of litter or clutter when I visited. That is some gorgeous architecture there as well. I really admire the Japanese historical design ideals since studying them at Uni. Another excellent blog 
Thanks for constantly visiting my blogs NeverGG!
Yea, Japan is really clean for a country with such a high population density, other places I've been to in Asia really pale in comparison.
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is awesome32277 Posts
Seems almost cleared by photoshop. I really loved the clean, sharp edge view japan offers.
Thanks
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konadora
Singapore66357 Posts
Yeah same here, I was surprised by how clean it was, even in the capital and the major cities. Nobody seems to litter there!
I wish I could have gone to the less-visited areas T___T
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Nice blog. These sushi looks even better than the last ones.
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Yea, I find smaller areas (or rather, places farther away from mega metropolitans) much more interesting. The lack of tourists is definitely a big big win.
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On May 29 2009 16:15 NeverGG wrote:
Japan is so spotless - I was really surprised by the lack of litter or clutter when I visited.
Yeah, your pictures make the other Asian cities I've visited (only HK, Seoul, Beijing) look like garbage dumps:/
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The place looks beautiful. The colors in your photos are so vibrant...REALLY makes me want to go there...haha.
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I actually stayed in Kurashiki for 2 months! Nothing special there in my opinion.
The Okayama castle is stunning although we couldnt actually go inside it.
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United States22883 Posts
I feel humid just looking at those pictures. When were you there?
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Melbourne5338 Posts
Looking forward to Himeji post. I liked Himeji so much when I visited. They had free bicycles :3
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So clean and tidy. Is it in japanese culture to be so tidy or do they have an army of staff to clean up the place?
Compared to my local park, that place looks like it's from another planet.
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is awesome32277 Posts
On May 30 2009 00:59 pachi wrote:
Looking forward to Himeji post. I liked Himeji so much when I visited. They had free bicycles :3
aw :>
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
when were you touring from?!?! seems like you went to a loadd of places and yeah.. what do you do now!? i envy your tour haha. food........
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On May 30 2009 00:46 Jibba wrote:
I feel humid just looking at those pictures. When were you there?
July 11th (according to the photos).
On May 30 2009 02:00 Hans-Titan wrote:
So clean and tidy. Is it in japanese culture to be so tidy or do they have an army of staff to clean up the place?
Compared to my local park, that place looks like it's from another planet.
They have a decent number of cleaners; but people don't typically litter.
On May 30 2009 03:00 alffla wrote:
when were you touring from?!?! seems like you went to a loadd of places and yeah.. what do you do now!? i envy your tour haha. food........
I stayed in Japan from April til December. I toured, on average, every other week
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wow.. that's it next time i visit korea ima go check out japan w/ my friends
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On May 30 2009 14:56 R3condite wrote:
wow.. that's it next time i visit korea ima go check out japan w/ my friends Is it cheap/easy to go from one to another?
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