A city of half a million located in the Okayama Prefecture of Chugoku region, Kurashiki is the perfect stop for travelers looking to explore the architecture and lifestyle of 17th century Japan. Kurashiki is just a few kilometers east of Okayama City, and though at first glance seems to offer little for the tourist, a trip through the city's Bikan Historical Quarter plunges you back into a picturesque seventeenth-century Japanese city. So if you've traveled to Okayama Prefecture, make sure to visit Kurashiki.
During the Tokugawa period, Kurashiki was a farming town renowned for its high-quality Bizen-mai Rice. More importantly, however, Kurashiki served as a storage center for rice harvested throughout the Okayama Prefecture. The name Kurashiki literally means "storehouse floor," and the area where most of the wooden warehouses, or kura, are located is known as the Bikan Historical Quarter.
