Lewis' Japan Retrospective #2: Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture.

Two in a row is quite the change of form, no? 

Next up, how could it not be the place I’ve spent the second most amount of time in. Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture. 

It’s easiest to think about prefectures as the equivalent of an American state or a British county (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire…).

Or, that would be the case if all prefectural capitals followed the same pattern. Okayama City is the capital of Okayama Prefecture, but the main city of neighbouring Hyogo Prefecture is Kobe City. Not confusing at all, right?

Anyway, Okayama is very easily described as a great city to live in, but not the most extravagant to visit. There are some really highlights such as Korakuen Garden and Okayama Castle, an absolutely gorgeous place to see especially in the spring, with the prestigious honor of being one of the ‘Three Great Gardens of Japan’. 

It is also home to the iconic folklore hero of Momotaro (Peach boy, in English). His story is known all over Japan, where after he was found as a baby within a peach, he teamed up with three animals to rid the lands of evil. Now, his statue is tucked away near the station as construction work is taking place nearby. A character of Japanese legend, watching over the local McDonald’s. 

The biggest compliment I’ll give to Okayama City is that it’s a great transit/hub city. Its proximity to Shikoku makes it the perfect gateway to visit the ‘island of four countries’. It is also part of the Nozomi Superexpress Shinkansen route, coming all the way from Tokyo before continuing to Fukuoka. 

Okayama Prefecture is actually quite large overall, the city lies in the South, but the kanji name for Okayama is 岡山, where 岡 translates to ‘hills’, and 山 translates to ‘mountains’. It’s a very fitting name, for it truly is a land of mostly hills and mountains. Weirdly enough, the thing that surprises me most about travelling within the Prefecture is how many tunnels they’ve dug through the mountains at such a grand scale, the infrastructure effort to keep Okayama connected must have been absolutely monumental.

Yeah, you can see it’s not the most enthralling place…

But! If you are here, try the local delicacy ‘Kibidango’. The exact translation is a bit tricky, but think of it as simply ‘Okayama dumpling’. Momotaro himself apparently enjoyed them, so they must be great, right?

As usual, if you want to learn Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture in Japanese, it’s 岡山市、
岡山県 (おかやまし、おかやまけん）


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