Usually when we go to Hiroshima to see my wife’s parents we either go there directly by Shinkansen (bullet train) or fly. Occasionally we go separately due to work commitments which has resulted in me once going all the way there by local trains (16 hours!) and another time, as will be detailed in this post, I flew to neighbouring prefecture Okayama early one morning and spent a few days in that region before going on to Hiroshima.

Day 1: Around ten years ago, the ‘On the Fox Trail…’ series on Tokyo Fox was a mild success for a site of this size. I’d been sent a book called ‘The Fox and the Jewel‘ by Karen A. Smyers which featured the major Inari centres of Japan, and I was trying to make my way round them all. Saiji Inari Shrine was one of them but its remote location meant it was a bit of a problem.

Time is money though and eventually I just had to just bite the bullet and take a taxi there from Okayama Airport. Subsequently, I was already at the shrine before 10:00 am and the weather was absolutely sweltering. There really was nowhere to hide from the blazing sunshine in those early moments at the shrine.

My expectation was that it would be a fairly small shrine full of fox statues and that I’d be done within 30 minutes or so. As it was though, it was actually similar to Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto in terms of it stretching up the mountain. On reflection, it was actually a very nice shrine and completely devoid of people. One problem for me though was that it was really lacking in fox imagery. More details here.

Being alone was the story of the day really albeit in different circumstances as I think it’s quite rare to go to an amusement park by yourself. Keen to experience the Sky Cycle ride at Washuzan Highland Park I had no real choice but to go alone whilst my wife was still back in Tokyo. Given that I haven’t properly been back to Okayama since it was probably right that I took the opportunity to visit this Brazilian theme park even if I did have to fly solo!

Entrance was 2,800 yen and on arrival I immediately ascended many, many steep steps amidst the scorching temperatures and headed for the Sky Cycle ride. Normally this would be a fairly dull and tame pedal-powered ride but this one is heightened by the fact that you’re so high up above ground without a guard rail. The views across the Seto Inland Sea to some of the islands and the Seto Ohashi Bridge are beautiful and breathtaking

A quick spin on the teacups was followed by a few turns on the fantastic Ultra Twister roller-coaster ride. A standing roller-coaster was next which was thrilling and my final stop was the pool area albeit just for a few seconds to take some photos as I sadly didn’t have any swimming stuff with me and was also short on time. More details here.

It had already been a long day for me but with a couple of hours of daylight remaining I decided to squeeze in Kurashiki which is a city famed for its Bikan historical area just fifteen minutes away from Okayama by train. It was 5:30 pm when I arrived and ten minutes later I had already found my way over to the historical quarter located by the picturesque canal area.

The entrance area possesses some scenic townscape preserving history from various Japanese periods of history. The merchants’ quarter is reminiscent of warehouse streets in Kawagoe and Narita. The canal with pedestrian-only streets running parallel to it takes you into a bygone era with weeping trees reflecting beautifully in the water amidst some fine canal-side stonemasonry, arching bridges and a collection of museums. More details here.

I’ve stayed in a fair few since this trip in 2016 but my first night in Okayama was when I made my capsule hotel debut. I did do it the easy way though by booking a private room with a capsule. More details here.

Day 2: Three is the magic number in Japan when it comes to rating and numbering things with one such example being the trio of most celebrated gardens. Okayama’s Korakuen Gardens are considered to be one of the three finest gardens in Japan with the others being Kenroku-en in Kanazawa and Kairaku-en in Mito.

I was there at 8:00 am (opening was 7:30 am) with just a few other people present during my time there which was so nice compared to the crowds at other gardens back in Tokyo.

The gardens have a rich history dating back to the late 17th century when they were constructed and 300 years later the traditions are being kept alive in this fine strolling garden. Korakuen is a vast expanse of flat lawns with attractive ponds, wooden bridges, tiny islands, teahouses and the mountains rising in the distance all add to the beauty. More details here.

The castle overlooking the gardens opened at 9:00 am and I hadn’t really planned to go inside but as I covered Korakuen quicker than expected I thought I would check it out.

This castle was originally completed in 1597 and is often nicknamed ‘U-jo’ (crow castle) due to the unique, black-lacquered weatherboards installed on the castle tower. More details here.

Japan is actually made up of over 6000 islands but only around 400 of them are inhabited with four major ones hosting the majority of the 127 million population. There’s always something exciting and a little exotic about going to islands and one island I’d wanted to visit for a long time was Naoshima in Kagawa Prefecture which is dotted with concrete art installations. More on all that later as I began by going straight to the 007 Museum, a small, slightly shabby, un-manned house found just two minutes’ walk to from the ferry terminal at Miyanoura Port.

It’s dedicated to a Raymond Benson novel from 2002 which was set in part on Naoshima. Since its release the local government and people of Kagawa prefecture have been engaging in activities to promote the idea of turning the book into a film to be shot on location there. One such idea included the building of this museum which opened in July 2005.

Among the many exhibits are notes and photographs collected by Benson as well as a manuscript of the book, Japanese-style posters, postcards, model cars and guns, 007 novels and other such movie paraphernalia. In one corner a TV plays a 20-minute 007 tribute video called ‘From Naoshima with Love‘ on loop. I didn’t get through it all as it was a bit strange and more like a promo video for Naoshima rather than a mini film. More details here.

After that I rented a bicycle for the day for just 300 yen and cycled to the museum area which is private land owned by Benesse House Hotel so non-hotel guests are obliged to park up and continue on to the museums (Lee Ufan Museum, Chichu Art Museum etc.) by foot. It was about a 15-minute walk to Benesse House Museum but there were a few places along the way of interest such as the short stone torii gate on the beach right next to the bicycle parking lot.

One of the islands most famous landmarks is “Pumpkin” by Yayoi Kusama who passed away earlier this year. The other various art installations were also really cool.

The Benesse Hotel Museum (¥‎1,030 entry) was the one place I decided to go inside. It’s located on a hilltop in the southern part of Naoshima and even I was mildly impressed by some of the many featured exhibits in this complex which opened in 1992.

Across from the outdoor artworks were some stunning landscapes of the Seto Inland Sea and an abundance of sunshine. More details here.

Day 3: The Seto Inland Sea is the body of water separating three of Japan’s four main islands. It serves as a waterway, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan and there are some 3000 islands and islets dotted amidst this area stretching for over 400 kilometres.

Having left Okayama behind, Omishima in Ehime Prefecture was my destination via a bus from Fukuyama. At the tourist information centre I rented a bicycle for the day for ¥1000. After struggling in Naoshima the previous day I decided to get a proper decent bike this time although I did actually miss the basket as it meant I had to carry the rucksack on my back which was a little sweaty!

The main reason I visited this island though was to hunt down the filming locations from ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013) but it wasn’t as straightforward as I’d hoped. In the end I had to get help from a local family who looked at the screenshots on my tablet and managed to pinpoint me to the correct angles. More details here.

Elsewhere, the views from the Tatara Observation Deck were fantastic and someone told me that it was possible to cycle across the Tatara Bridge in less than ten minutes, so I did that.

Back over on Omishima about half an hour later, it was time to part company with my wheels once I’d taken a few parting shots in the foreground of the bridge. More details here.

A pre-booked bus took me from Omishima to Hiroshima at 4:15 pm and four hours later, due to heavy traffic on the roads, I was at my parents-in-law house where my wife would later join up with us all for the remainder of the summer holiday.

Click here to read ‘Rock Climbing at Mount Mikura-dake in Hiroshima’

Click here to read ‘Hijiyama Park & Lazy Days Aplenty in Hiroshima’

Click here to read ‘A Turtle-y Awesome Looking Station In Okayama Prefecture’

Click here to read ‘The Art Museum That Has Eyes on You Before You Look at It!’