Last Updated: Jan 5, 2023

Deep Okayama

Diving Into the Prefecture’s Endless Sunshine

Welcome back to yet another one of my area guides where I go irrationally deep on a single location. Today we’ll be taking an exhaustive look at Okayama Prefecture, the so-called “land of sunshine.” This peculiar moniker comes from the fact that Okayama has the lowest recorded rainfall of all the prefectures. Now as those who follow me on social media know, I have a bit of a tumultuous relationship with Okayama. You see, every damn time that I’ve tried to visit the prefecture, it seems almost as if the fates conspire for me to meet my makers. During my very first expedition, I almost drowned in a torrential downpour and then upon my return, left I with a badly broken collarbone and elbow. For such an upbeat and cheerily nicknamed place, my experience has been rather morbid.

My injuries and brushes with death aside though, I must admit that I have a bit of a grim fascination with the “Land of Sunshine” that keeps me wanting to come back for more. Why would I foolishly risk life and limb to return to Okayama? Well, much like those comedic Russian matryoshka dolls, Okayama is a place of layers. The deeper I dig into the prefecture, the more amazing hidden gems I discover. In fact, I’d wager that Okayama is more of a treasure trove of undiscovered attractions than just about any other prefecture that I’ve traversed thus far. While many of the allures are spread out and therefore likely require a rental car to be best explored, you could easily spend three to four days just in Okayama alone. What follows is a bit of a smorgasbord of locations that I’ve uncovered thus far.

Note that this posts is DEFINITELY aimed at repeat visitors to Japan. If this is your first time traveling to Japan and you’d like to sample what Okayama has to offer, please refer to this piece on Koraku-en and Kurashiki. It’s much more oriented to those following traditional routes that include Kyoto and Hiroshima and therefore fits better into the itineraries of first timers.

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