Kurashiki

Kurashiki has been a highlight of our trip so far. We stayed at the Kurashiki Royal Art Hotel which was ten minute walk from the train station.

We had a Japanese room with tatami mat sleeping and a lovely Japanese bathroom with a wet area for washing and bathing and a dry area for getting dressed. We were very comfortable although it’s been a few years since we slept on the floor and the futons do seem a bit thinner!

Breakfast was a Japanese buffet with some western dishes. I enjoyed Japanese roasted tea and a selection of Japanese dishes including four different kinds of fish, congee, miso soup, rice, salad and fruit.

The hotel was very close to the historic canal district called Bikan-chiku (the Bikan district) – bikan literally meaning “beautiful views” in Japanese. There are canals lined with willow trees and old style buildings which now house shops and cafes/ restaurants.

Most of the buildings were originally rice granaries, store houses and merchants homes dating from the late 18th century and have tiled roofs, white-washed and black-tiled walls which were probably characteristic of the whole of Kurashiki once. The area is very charming and a lovely place to spend a Sunday strolling and going into the many shops and cafes. There were lots of free samples of cakes and sweets, local Kurashiki honey, dashi stocks, salt and pickles.

It seems to be a popular place for both Japanese and western tourists. It’s the sort of place where you can hire traditional Japanese clothing and pretend you live in old Japan! You can also go on a gondola-style boat ride wearing a coolie-style hat.

We saw some sort of ceremony for young children. One of the shop keepers told us it is for three, five and seven year olds. The children are dressed up and look like they are being presented to some men in official robes.

We enjoyed visiting the Ohara Museum of Art which is Japan’s first and oldest museum of Western art. The museum and grounds are lovely.

El Greco coffee house (which is next door to the museum and probably named for the El Greco collection) is a good place for coffee and cheesecake or Japanese style Madeira cake. I’ve become quite addicted to the sugar syrup you put into coffee!

We did buy quite a few souvenirs including a few small pieces of Bizen pottery which is one of the most famous types of Japanese pottery. Each piece is unique because of the way it is fired.

Our dinner highlight was at a local yakitori. We ordered from a Japanese menu with no pictures and did well to order boiled rice, chicken legs, skewered green chillies and we think a glass of sake!