This is Kurashiki.
It’s a historic city in Okayama prefecture centered around a beautiful canal and old-fashioned streets.
I spent four days here with an awesome group of people
traveling to every corner and experiencing the best the city has to offer.
I guess the first thing I should say is Kurashiki is gorgeous.
It has a large historical district with streets and streets of old houses and shops, with
incredibly kind storeworkers. A ryokan worker even let us borrow a lamp called a chochin.
We spent most our time shooting a promotional video for the city, which we took very seriously.
[pottery DJ]
This is how we MAKE A VIDEEEOOO
Can you look up?
You should make this your facebook profile picture.
Shut up.
[singing Billy Joel]
But I wanted to share my side of things, too, so I took videos to show you guys when I had the chance.
This is Achi shrine.
Here I did Nikkusai, which is a Shinto ritual offering food to kamisama.
They went over the instructions so quickly and I was freaking out because
I couldn’t remember and I was sure I was going to do it horribly and disrespect the
kamisama, and the priest would be shocked in horror and the whole town would be cursed!!!
But I did it okay.
We also climbed a mountain.
I’m not sure how safe that was.
I got to ride in a couple boats, which was a ton of fun. I love riding in boats.
And even more than that, my favorite thing of all from Kurashiki was the people.
This boat driver was so incredibly nice, coming all the way out to drive us around in a couple
circles in the rain. He told us about some amazing cherry blossoms they have by the river
there, and even came back after leaving with his camera so he could show us pictures!
This is a guest house called igusa. This house is so old that the roof is still thatched,
and a woman was living in it like normal until just recently!
Here I got to try igusa weaving.
Igusa is a type of straw that’s used to make tatami mats, but you can also dye it
and weave it by hand to make things like place mats!
The woman from the guesthouse who taught me was so down to earth and easy to talk to.
But the central piece of the city is a guesthouse called Yurinan. The food is so popular that
people were waiting in line each morning to get in. Their most famous dishes are these
pudding cups, and tamago kakegohan, which is raw egg on rice. My favorite food though
was the onigiri. I had several of them, and I’m still craving them now! The top floor
is a sleeping space for visitors to use, so if you’re traveling to Kurashiki look into
staying at Yurinan! It's u-rin.com. The staff is so friendly and welcoming. They even gave
me a tube of toothpaste, because I left mine in the bathroom at a tonkatsu restaurant…
don’t ask. I really loved meeting everyone there.
There’s also an izakaya nearby with the best izakaya food I’ve ever had in my life.
If you don’t eat their korokke before you die your entire life will be a waste. The
man who ran the bar was awesome. And while we were filming there was an older drunk couple
sitting next to me, who talked to me about the military and peace in Japan for probably
a good 20 minutes, and then afterward they joined us for dinner.
Kampai!
This is oden. And it's Japanese traditional food. This restaurant is famous for this oden.
So excellent. Excellent!
Marvelous! Wonderful!
Nice to meet you!
Honestly these are the kind of experiences I’d love to have every day in Japan. I really
I really felt like I was a part of the city there, instead of just a visitor.
I had conversations with so many people, it was just incredible.
I highly recommend Kurashiki,
if not for the beautiful atmosphere, then at least for the people!
By the way, if you want to watch the video we made, you can click here!