The Crow Castle and one of Japan's three great gardens
Okayama is a mid-sized city in western Honshū often used as a gateway to Kurashiki (already in SkyOSK) but worthy of its own day. Korakuen garden — laid out in 1700 for the Ikeda clan — is consistently ranked one of Japan's three finest traditional landscape gardens, with streams, teahouses, and views of the striking black Okayama Castle (nicknamed 'Crow Castle') across the Asahi River. The city is also known as the 'Land of Sunshine' for its exceptionally low rainfall, and for Kibidango, the millet dumplings linked to the Momotarō folk tale.
Okayama developed around the castle built by warlord Ukita Hideie in 1597 — a stunning black lacquered fortress that earned the Crow Castle nickname alongside Matsumoto's Black Castle. The Ikeda clan governed the domain for 250 years of the Edo period and created Korakuen garden as both pleasure garden and emergency food supply (the tea plantations and rice paddies within it are still cultivated). The castle was destroyed by WWII bombing and rebuilt in 1966, but Korakuen survived intact.