Before reaching Shikoku to explore the several Heisei landscapes to be found there, we spent a sunny afternoon in Okayama. The small city is a convenient gateway to Japan’s fourth island and offers one of the country three most beautiful garden (along Kanazawa’s Kenroku-en and Mito’s Kairaku-en). And the Korakuen, achieved in 1700, is just below Okayama impressive castle, destroyed during WW2 but rebuilt in 1966.

How to get there?

Okayama is a convenient city connected to Tokyo and Kyoto thanks to the Tokaido Sanyo Shinkansen (and as written before, connected to Shikoku with JR trains). The journey from Tokyo is a 3:30 hours one and costs about 17000 yen. A cheaper option for the trip would be to use a night bus (from about 6000 yen with Willer Express). The garden and castle area are then half an hour walking from the station.