A Day in Okayama (岡山)

Well, I finally did it! I made it out to Okayama -- something that I've been meaning to do since...hmm....well maybe August or September.  Actually, it might be a little surprising that I haven't been there yet as it is an easy just-under-an-hour train ride away.  But anyway, now I have, and I have lots of things to talk about!

When I first got there, I knew that there were definitely a couple of things that I should really see -- the main attractions being the castle and gardens, and there was another location as well recommended by some friends, but I'll get into that a little bit later.  So, after getting off the train, I did the typical tourist thing, and made a quick stop at the tourist information center to see what else the city/surrounding area might have to see.  In this particular case, they weren't overly helpful -- they seemed a little bit too shy to talk with me (in both English and Japanese) and basically just handed me a map and sent me on my way.  That is a rather unusual experience for Japan...but no matter, I'm perfectly able to figure things out on my own, and I was just checking for any extra info they may have had to offer.

Cool spiky water fountain outside of Okayama Station

So, my first stop was Okayama Castle.  This castle has the nickname of Ujo (or Crow Castle) due to its unusual black exterior.  The sign at the castle said that it's black because the wood had some kind of special storm treatment that causes it to turn black.

 

 

 

After taking a look at the castle, I wandered around the castle grounds for a while (and ironically there were quite a few crows around in the trees)

 

Wandering the grounds

As I was finishing up my wandering, I happened to hear some singing...there was a ground of gentlemen across the river on the bank doing some practicing or something...not really sure what it was, but they were a group with some rather nice harmony of their tenors.

 

A not particularly good photo of the singing gentlemen

Next, I headed across the river to the back entrance to Korakuen - Okayama's famous gardens.  These particular gardens are rather unusual compared to your typical Japanese gardens because they have so much open space and it has a lot of grass cover, which you really don't see so much of here in Japan.

 

 

 

 When I first came into the gardens, I was rather surprised because there seemed to be a lot of people considering it was still fairly early in the morning and it wasn't really prime viewing season (as it's not summer and the leaves haven't really even started changing that much yet.

In the grove of maple trees, only this one tree has changed color so far

As I was walking through the gardens, I found out the reason for all of the people being there.  The reason was these guys:

Crane!

So, on November 1st, they let 2 of the cranes they keep in the gardens out of the aviary to do a practice flight for the event that they hold on New Years.  So as I was walking along, suddenly, right over my head, two cranes were flying in tandem (and close enough to the ground that if I reached up I probably could've touched them) and then they landed on a grass field in front of the main house of the garden.  I wish I had pictures of them flying - it was really a sight to see, but since I was so surprised, and it all happened rather quickly, I didn't get a chance to pull out my camera.
Still, I feel really lucky to have be able to see that at all!

After that event I wandered through the gardens and saw what there was to see.  I *thought* I was ending my wanderings through the garden with some white peach soft ice-cream, but as I was eating it one of the volunteer guides came over (apparently I had been standing right ouside their "office"). Anyway, the guide offered to show me around the gardens and give me more information about them, and since I had time, I decided why not, might as well learn what I can.  But wow, talk about information overload.  I learned all sorts of things that I may or may not have been interested in learning!

Took this one in honor of the spooky weekend

Summer tea house

Harvested rice field in the gardens

They had a chrysanthemum display

Apparently it was a good time to see these because they were in their prime as it was judging day

They also had a display with many of these pretties! (see more in link to album at the end of this post)

After visiting the gardens I went to Kurashiki -- a kind of historical district along a canal with lots of little shops and such things.  When I first got there I saw a couple swans just hanging out!

Okayama is also famous for its denim, and so in this area they have a denim street where you can buy all kinds of products made with denim, clothes, bags, shoes, etc.  They even had denim food -- denim soft cream, denim man (steamed buns), and more. But I don't know how I feel about eating food that's bright blue. It's kind of strange.

It was a nice walk through that area anyway.

 

 

Not sure what this last one was about, but they were handing out flyers for it

 

Well, that's about it -- didn't do too much else, although I ate a lot for my combined late lunch/early supper -- yummy chicken followed with Blue Seal (Okinawan chain) strawberry cheesecake ice-cream!

Ah, one more story. This one's about the train ride home. So I took the marine liner which connects Shikoku to the mainland and although it wasn't so busy in the morning, it definitely was in the evening, which I had been expecting. Standing room only. I was in the very last car and was lucky enough to find a spot on the wall in front of the conductor's area - I could lean! Which I thought was a good deal since I was tired and half-asleep. Now if you've ever ridden a train standing you know to expect the kind of side to side motions, but this day I got something new. Before I keep going, let me remind you one more time-- I was not fully awake! Suddenly I had this strange sensation of my feet sliding backwards. I was understandably confused. Most of the motion before was either forward or side to side so why was I sliding back? Turns out the conductor inside had opened the door, which I was unwittingly leaning on and was trying to get out. Ah. I was surprised. I didn't realize I was on the door section. After the surprise, there was embarassment follows by hilarity which I tried really hard to suppress. Being on the train and all. But feel free to have a laugh at my expense. I don't mind. Much. It really is funny thinking back--I imagine my expression was amusing as well. The things that happen in my life. Lol. Now, I really am ending it here! Look forward to the next adventure!

For more pictures from this day, you can click here.