Okayama

Another day of brilliant blue sky and sunshine. After a leisurely breakfast, we hopped onto one of the great little trams that rattle up and down the wide main streets of Okayama. We wandered through the gardens of Korakuen, said to be one of the top three gardens in Japan. I'm not sure who decides or how, but it certainly is a beautiful place, and filled with people enjoying the Sunday morning sunshine. We climbed the small hill in the park and patted the stone that is said to bring prosperity to offspring - hope it works kids!

We had lunch in a nice café looking across the river to the castle, then visited the castle itself. After Matsumoto castle, which has survived intact, Okayama castle looks like it did from the outside, but has been reconstructed so that the inside is like any modern building, nice even steps and an elevator. It has all the atmosphere of a concrete carpark. But it was fun none the less. We had a nice chat to  Japanese man who was a castle buff. He recommended Nagoya castle. We will have to get here next time. There was a great exhibition of reconstructions of the armour of various important Samurai figures, including Tokugawa Ieyasu's and Toyotomi Hidetoshi's.

They certainly are not interested in camouflage.  Some of them looked particularly terrifying.

We still had some energy left so we caught a tram down to the station, and caught a local train to Kurashiki, a town about 25 minuteas ride away, and explored its celebrated historic canal district. Well, eventually we did, but not before I got us lost. People are very kind here though. A lady in a shop saw us looking confused, and came over to give us a map and point us in the right direction. It is a beautiful place, and one which we wished we'd had more time to explore.

We found ourselves a the Ohara Museum of Art, a small but high quality collection of Western Art, the outcome of a collaboration between a Japanese artist, Torajiro Kojima, and a wealthy philanthropic industrialist, Magosaburo Ohara. Kojima travelled through Europe in the 1920s, identifying works which he would then persuade O'Hara to buy. The collection has been enhanced since, but the core contains works by Monet, Guagin, Modigliani, Henri Rousseau, Matisse and many others. An unexpected find, and a pleasant way to spend a few hours. Our genial spirits started to flag somewhere in one of the ancillary galleries, so we beat a retreat back to the station and were soon back in Okayama.

Did a load of washing in the hotel machines, ok dinner at a restuarant over the road - about half the price of last night's, and about jalf as nice, though dinner last night was sensational. So, off to Shukoku tomorrow, not a long trip and a relatively slow start. We are feeling a bit tired tonight so a quieter day will be good.