The city of Kurashiki, in Okayama Prefecture, was once a bustling trade town during the Edo period. The traditional buildings, concentrated along the willow-lined Kurashiki River, have been preserved in…
Okayama is best known as the home of Momotaro, a beloved folktale about a boy born from a peach. But the prefecture is also the birthplace of Japanese denim. In…
Covered in black clapboards, Okayama Castle is known as Ujo, or “crow castle.” Fittingly, it sits atop one of three hills overlooking the Asahi river. Perhaps even more fittingly, it…