From Wikitravel

Kurashiki (倉敷) is a city in Okayama prefecture, Japan.

[edit] Get in

[edit] By plane

A shuttle bus will take you from Okayama's airport to Kurashiki station in approximately 45 minutes (¥1000). Tickets can be purchased from a vending machine outside of the airport. Large luggage is okay; the driver will stow it underneath the seats. Staff at the information booth just beyond baggage claim are very helpful, and will go outside with you to purchase the ticket and get you on the appropriate bus. Like most buses in Japan, the driver will collect the ticket when you disembark.

[edit] By train

Kurashiki is on the JR San'yo Main Line between Okayama and Fukuyama.

The best way to reach Kurashiki from the San'yo Shinkansen is to transfer to a local train at Okayama; the ride takes about 15 minutes (¥320). Note that the limited express trains between Okayama and Kurashiki are more than twice as expensive, and will only save you one or two minutes.

However, if you have a Japan Rail Pass, you can take either a local or a limited express; on the latter, hop onto any non-reserved car and simply flash your rail pass to the conductor, declaring Kurashiki as your destination.

The San'yo Shinkansen does has a stop at Shin-Kurashiki station (新倉敷), another 10 minutes down the San'yo Main Line, but this stop is only served by all-stopping Kodama trains.

[edit] By bus

123bus [1] is a company which provides daily night time bus services between Tokyo and Kurashiki and Osaka and Kurashiki (4 3/4 hours, ¥3000 one way). With online booking service in English.

[edit] Get around

Most of the sights in Kurashiki are in and around the Bikan area (see below). The station is about ten minutes away on foot down Chuo-dori.

[edit][add listing] See

There is a tourist information office with several decent maps/guides available in several languages, and most of the workers speak some english. To find the office, exit the train station to the south (left from JR ticket collection), to where you overlook the bus station. Stay on the upper level, and the office is in the shops to the right (west).

• The Bikan area is a preserved district of traditional merchant buildings in Japan. White walls and store houses (倉 kura) with lattice windows, many of which have been converted into museums, share space with weeping willow trees along the banks of an old canal. The canal and its bridges is illuminated at night.
• Ohara Museum of Art, near the canal, [2]. houses a renowned collection of classic European and American art, including Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Matisse and many others. It also has another building for exhibitions by modern Japanese artists. The neoclassical columns are easily recognized amidst the more traditional buildings in the Bikan area. Look for the Rodin statues out front and in the small sculpture garden at the back.
• Japan Rural Toy Museum, 4-16 1-chome Chuo-dori; Tel. 086-422-8058. Also in the Bikan area, has a collection of over 40,000 toys, although only 5,000 usually are on display. Most are show-pieces (and occasionally eerie ones at that), but there are some that kids can play with hands-on. Admission is ¥300 for adults, ¥200 for teenagers and ¥100 for kids.
• Museum of Folkcraft, 1-4-11 Chuo-dori; Tel. 086-422-1542. Hosts excellent seasonal and permanent exhibitions of Japanese folk crafts. Even if you're not captivated by the subject matter, the space in which it's housed - three vintage structures connected by narrow corridors and old stairwells - is worth checking out. Hours are 9am - 5pm for most of the year, 9AM-4:15PM in the winter. It's closed on Mondays.

[edit][add listing] Do

• Tivoli Park [3], near Kurashiki Station, is a theme park intended to recreate Copenhagen, Denmark. There are fifty thousand trees, and about two hundred fifty kind of flowers. In the summer, there are fireworks every night. It's open 10am - 8pm (M-Th) and 10am - 9pm (F-Su), and an extra hour in the summer. The park is closed from latter half of January to February. Basic admission is ¥2000 for adults, ¥1700 for teenagers, ¥1000 for children and seniors and free for children under 6, with half-price tickets available after 5pm.

[edit][add listing] Buy

• Kurashiki Ivy Square (Motomachi 7-2), located in an old cotton mill, sells high-end art, fabrics, textiles and other traditional wares.
• Hon-dori and Ebisu-dori are covered shopping arcades leading back toward the station.

[edit][add listing] Eat

• Takadaya is a smokey, yet fantastic little yakitoriya (grilled chicken kebab joint) just behind the Ryokan Kurashiki, on the back alleys, next to the Avenue Jazz club. Prices are reasonable and the food is fantastic. No English spoken.

[edit][add listing] Drink

• Ko-hi-kan is a decent coffee shop on Chuo-dori, between the station and the Bikan area.

[edit][add listing] Sleep

• Young Inn Kurashiki, +81(86)425-3411, [4]. A large, red-brick hotel with several floors of small, Western-style rooms for ¥4200 per night. It's not very clean, especially by the standards of most Japanese hotels, but it's close to the station and fairly easy to find. The owner speaks a little English, and reservations can be arranged over the internet. Breakfast is available.

• Kurashiki Terminal Hotel,[5] just outside the train station, is a typical business hotel--clean small rooms. It's a short walk from here to the Bikan area. Rooms from ¥6,825 single; ¥9,450 twin.

• Ryokan Kurashiki, 4-1 Honmachi, 81-86-422-0730, [6] is definitely a splurge. It's a traditional inn, where guests are fussed over and fed elaborate dinners in their rooms. Western-style breakfast is available. The inn occupies an atmospheric complex of old buildings, facing the canal in the Bikan section. There are various styles of suites--Western, traditional, mixed--scattered along a maze of corridors. Little English is spoken, but the staff welcomes foreigners. Rooms from ¥28,000 per person, including dinner and breakfast. Guests should arrive early enough to sip tea by the garden and soak themselves before dinner. On the left side of the canal as you walk from the train station, at a bend in the canal.

[edit] Get out

Okayama is a short train ride away, featuring Koraku-en, one of Japan's Three Great Gardens, and all the Momotaro you could possibly want.

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