Exploring Beautiful Okayama Castle and Korakuen Garden/ 美しい岡山城と後楽園を散策してみよう！

Exploring Beautiful Okayama Castle and Korakuen Garden/ 美しい岡山城と後楽園を散策してみよう！

Hello everybody and welcome to Okyama City in Okyama Prefecture. And right now I am standing just outside of Okyama Castle. And as you can see it’s very beautiful day today. We have really nice contrast with the colors of the castle and the sky. And uh one of the unique features of this castle as you can see is black the black exterior and it’s called the Crow Castle because of that. But uh anyway, we also have this uh the new fresh green trees coming. This is Golden Week 2025 and uh yeah, it’s a 4 day weekend for many people here in Japan. Excellent weather weather here. This is the Asahi River, which actually uh it served as a moat, a natural moat for uh Okyama Castle. But a lot of people out today enjoying the beautiful weather. You can see you can actually rent a boat and get out on the water. And then uh further down, I don’t know if you can see, but they’re actually having a night market uh during Golden Week. It’s called a Golden Night Market. And uh it actually opens at 2:00 in the afternoon and goes through the evening. So anyway, and just across the river over there is Kodakuen. It’s the famous garden here in Okoyama. It’s one of the top three most famous Japanese gardens. So anyway, first we’re going to go in and check out the castle. I was here about three and a half years ago and I made a video at Kodakuen, but I didn’t make a video here because it was under construction. It was completely covered with scaffolding. So, here’s the second chance. Want to go in, check it out, and bring this to you. So, let’s go check out Okayama Castle. See you. All right, everybody. So, we just walked around the uh around the outer walls here, and we’re headed toward the main entrance of the castle. But as you walk around uh the outside outside of the walls, you’ll come across this place. This is the Bizenware Studio. And actually here in Okyama Prefecture, it’s very famous for pottery. And it’s called Bizen Yaki or Bizam Pottery. And they actually have a studio here and you can make your own pottery. And uh you can see people are trying to get in and they’re getting turned away, I’m sure. But uh I’m guessing you probably need an appointment. You can’t just show up and walk in and just start making your own pottery. And especially here during Golden Week, it gets really crowded, I’m sure. But uh if you come, you want to make your own pottery, especially uh learn a little bit about the Bizen pottery here in Okyama Prefecture, you can come here and make your own pottery. So anyway, we’re going to keep heading toward the uh the main gate. So let’s go. All right, so we have now officially reached the main entrance to the castle. We got a really beautiful view here of the castle. Lots of events going on outside here. They got different things uh for you to enjoy. And uh actually here looks like a uh maybe an artificial cherry blossom tree. Cherry blossoms was already finished for the year. But uh anyway, you can see different events here. They even have these uh samurai, these warriors here. Uh you can get your picture taken with them and the uh the castle as well. Here they’ve got uh clothing that you can put on, period clothing. And uh this guy over here actually he’s got the Olympic torch from the Tokyo Olympics. So you can get your picture taken with that as well. So anyway, uh just a little bit of information. This is not an original castle. It was actually destroyed uh in World War II. It was rebuilt in 1966, but the original structure was from it was built in 1597 and then of course it was destroyed and uh rebuilt in 1966. So anyway, uh it looks like it’s pretty crowded. You can see there’s a line of people waiting to go in. And so when when I go in, I don’t know if it’d be polite to talk to kind of distract other visitors. I don’t know. But uh I may film inside without speaking and then give you some information later. But uh hopefully we can go all the way up to the top and get a nice view of the city and Kodakuen down below. So anyway, let’s go in and check out the castle. See you soon. All right, so we have reached the top of the castle. We are on the sixth floor. We had to wait a while to get on the elevator, take the elevator up to the fourth floor, and then go up two more flights of stairs up here to the sixth floor. And then uh you take the stairs all the way back down to the basement. But right now, you can see where I started the video. That’s the main entrance. They got the events down there uh for children and things like that. Again, this is Golden Week. Uh so, a lot of people are here. It’s quite busy and uh a lot of events going on. There’s the Asahi River and then you can see the city of Okyama and the mountains there in the distance. So, I’m going to walk around here at the top, show you the view of Okyama from different angles. So, let’s go around and check out the views. And there it is. Just in the distance, you can see uh Koakuen, the uh the famous garden here in Okyama, just across the river over there. And actually, we’re going to go over there and check out that park when we leave the castle here. But again, the Asahi River with the boats down below. And then more views here of Okyama City. I believe the station is just over there in that direction. So, right down there is exactly where I started the very beginning of this video and next to that bridge. All right, so let’s go down to the fifth floor and check out the rest of the castle. See you soon. All right, everybody. We have just finished our visit to Okyama Castle. And as you can tell, I only showed you the very top from the sixth floor, the view of Okyama and the town below. Uh it was a very nice castle. Uh as I said uh we came here three and a half years ago and it was under uh renovations. The renovations are complete and it’s very nice and modern on the inside. A lot of uh exhibitions and um displays of swords and armor and different things like that. They even had a uh like a theater. You could watch a short video about the history of the castle and things like that. I didn’t bring any of that to you in this video just because it was so crowded in there. Um, and there was nothing just super uh amazing that I thought was worthy of being in the video, but I think it is definitely worth visiting here. Definitely recommend it. And uh everything was really really nice and up todate. And uh on the first floor there was a um a place where you could take photos. Uh they had uh like photo spots set up and so that was pretty neat. They also had a a place uh like a little cafe. You could get some ice cream, some snacks and things like that. So anyway, the last thing I do want to show you here at the castle is right here. And uh this is called Skimi Yagura in Japanese or the moon viewing turret. This was built in 1620. And this is the only original structure still remaining today here at Okayyama Castle. So again, the castle was destroyed in 1945 in World War II, but uh this um this building here is the original from 1620. So, uh, pretty cool that it survived the war and, uh, it’s still standing here today. It’s not open. We cannot go inside, but it is here, uh, on display that we can come up and see it up close. So, anyway, that is the visit here to Okyama Castle. And next, we’re going to walk across the bridge and go over and check out Kakuen. And so, I’ve already made a video there. Again, I was here three and a half years ago. I made a video there and that was in October, but now we are in the month of May and so maybe it’s a totally different uh experience going and seeing it here in the springtime. So, let’s go over there and check it out. All right. See you soon. All right. Hello everyone and welcome to Kodakuan Garden here in Okyama City. It’s just across the river from the from the castle. And actually, there it is right there in the distance. And this garden is actually kind of designed to use the castle as some borrowed scenery or you can uh kind of use that as a background drop as you enjoy different views here in the garden. So this is probably Okyama City’s most famous uh tourist spot, I guess, is to come here to this garden. Uh but of course the castle right there is also another famous place to visit here in the city. And this is actually ranked in the top three best Japanese gardens in Japan. In Kanazawa there is Kanokuen. In Mito there is Kaidakuen. And here in Okyama City is Korakuen. So anyway, as I said, I made a video here about 3 years ago in the fall and I’m kind of curious to compare how it is in the spring to the fall. Uh the main difference I see right away though is you can see these balls here. And uh it is Golden Week as I mentioned and they’re going to have this uh the garden is open up during the night time and so they will have special illuminations uh up until I believe 9:30 tonight. So uh you can enjoy the gardens in the daytime and the nighttime as well. Uh just looking around in general though, it does look really similar to uh to what it looked like in the fall. But of course, as you can see, it’s an extremely large and wide open um garden. And then it is uh garden week, which means children’s day is coming up. And that’s why you see these flying fish here uh pretty much everywhere you look in Japan at this time of the year. So anyway, we’re going to go around. I’m going to show you some of the highlights of this garden. It is huge, and there’s no way I can bring all of it to you, but I will bring you some of the highlights. So, let’s go check out Kotakuen Coen or garden here in Okyama City. All right. See you. All right. So, this garden here has a few unique features that you don’t really find in other Japanese gardens. And this is one of them here. This is actually a crane aviary. And uh so you can see they got these redheaded cranes here. And you normally don’t see this these cages here for cranes to walk and to kind of graze the grass. But this is one of the unique features here of Koakuan Gardens. So you can check out the redheaded cranes. And I don’t know if you noticed in the beginning of the video, I showed the boats down in the river. And one of the paddle boats that you could get was the redheaded crane. So kind of using that as an attraction for people to come and enjoy. So another unique feature here is an archery range. You can actually come here and practice archery or cudo and uh so kind of unique things about this garden. So anyway, let’s keep going around. I’ll see you soon. All right, everybody. So, this is kind of a hot spot here. A lot of people are coming taking photos here. As you can see, they’ve set up kind of a display and it says um the uh the name of the garden here in Okyama. And a very beautiful view here of the lake. You got the little uh hill there with the lookout from the top and then of course the castle in the distance. So, very quickly some uh history of this garden. It was built in 1687 and then in 1884 it was uh taken over by the Okyama Prefectural Government and opened up to the public and it’s been here ever since and it’s been reconstructed and redesigned and uh they had very good records to uh to keep true to the original form. So anyway, very beautiful view here. You got the castle, the lake here. All right, so let’s keep going around. I’ll see you soon. Bye. All right, so here’s another view of the castle. Again, it’s kind of like borrowed scenery. And then here you can see they actually have an agricultural area here where they grow different plants, things like that. And then there you can see the hill. And of course, they are having some events over here because of Golden Week. And then there’s the pond over there. And also they grow green tea right here. This is a green tea plantation. So it’s very unique, very different from other Japanese gardens here in Japan. And as I said, it’s been restored and rebuilt to keep to the original design. And actually, I read in uh 1934, there were a lot of floods here. And so again, they had to restore and and uh kind of renovate it back to its original design. And then also, as I mentioned earlier, in World War II, there was a lot of bombing here. And so that was some more damage that they had to repair and get back to the original form. So anyway, a lot of history here, unique features of this garden, and of course, beautiful views there of Okyama Castle. All right, let’s keep going around and I’ll see you soon. Bye. All right, so I have climbed up to the top of the hill, and this is the beautiful view from the top. Kind of a observation deck type area. And actually, this is the hottest spot up here. Everybody standing behind me trying to get this picture, but I’m able to bring the full panoramic view to you from all directions here. And there it is. You can see they’re having an event over there. Some live music for the Golden Week holidays. Beautiful, beautiful garden here. And here in the springtime, there are a lot of Aelia bushes here. I’ve noticed that. It’s one of the differences between the fall and the spring. And then as well as wisteria, hujinoana in Japanese are also in bloom here at this time of the year here at Kodaku and Koi. All right, so there it is. The view from the top. Let’s keep going around. I’ll see you soon. Bye. All right, so this is going to be the end of my visit here in Okyama City. Uh and again we visited the uh Okyama Castle which is what you see right here, Okyama Castle. And then just across the river here is uh Korakuen Garden, one of the three famous gardens here in Japan. And I want to say uh I got a ticket for both the castle and you can get a combination ticket for the castle and the garden and it was only 720 yen. And with the current exchange rate with the US dollar, that’s about $5, which is super, super cheap to visit this castle and the garden together. So definitely a really, really good deal to get these two places together in uh on one ticket. So anyway, this is going to be the end of the video. So do you have anything to say? [Music] Yeah, absolutely. We had a really good time here. These two places are located just beside each other. So, you can do it in the afternoon really. So, it just takes maybe three hours, four hours to do it very slowly. So, come here and enjoy a nice afternoon in Okyama City. So, that’s all for the video today. Thank you so much for watching. If you like the video, please click like down below, leave a comment, and definitely subscribe to my channel. I’m making videos like this all over Japan. One more time, thank you so much for watching, and I’ll see you next time. Bye-bye.

Okayama City is the capital of Okayama Prefecture and is the second largest city in the Chugoku Region. In this video, I visit Okayama Castle, which had been recently renovated. Then, I check out Korakuen Garden, one of Japan’s three best gardens. Join me as I explore beautiful Okayama City!/ 岡山県岡山市。中国地方で二番目に大きな都市になります。「令和の大改修」を経て、新しく生まれ変わった岡山城。日本三名園の一つ、後楽園。さぁ、一緒に、この美しい岡山市を散策してみよう！

0:00 – Introduction from Okayama Castle/ 岡山城の説明
1:38 – Bizen Pottery Studio/ 備前焼工房
2:37 – Okayama Castle entrance/ 岡山城の入口
4:08 – View from top of castle/ 岡山城の天守閣
6:09 – Comments about the castle/ 岡山城の感想
7:17 – Moon-viewing turret/ 国指定重要文化財 月見櫓
8:21 – Introduction from Korakuen Garden/ 後楽園の説明
10:18 – Red-headed cranes/ タンチョウヅル
11:12 – View spot/ ビュースポット
12:07 – Agricultural area/ 後楽園の井田
13:13 – View from observation point/ 唯心山からの眺め
14:11 – Ticket information/ チケットについて
14:58 – Farewell message/ ドリューからのメッセージ

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