Kurashiki, Japan Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

At first sight, KURASHIKI , 26km west of Okayama, looks like just another bland identikit Japanese town with a recreation of Copenhagen's Tivoli Park tacked onto one side. But ten minutes' walk south of the station, the modern buildings and shops are replaced by a delightful enclave of black and white, walled merchants' homes ( machiya ) and storehouses ( kura ) dating from the town's Edo-era heyday, when it was an important centre for trade in rice and rush reeds. The compact Bikan historical area, cut through by a narrow, weeping-willow-fringed canal, in which swans drift and carp swim, is … more »