Okayama city centre walk

On the way to Osaka, we decided to do the Okayama city centre walk. Okayama is often referred as the gateway to west Japan so it has many affordable restaurants and bars.

We left Kochi for Osaka, but would be stopping at Okayama for a look around on the way.

Train from Kochi to Okayama, Japan.

Again the train journey back to Okayama was spectacular with the highlight being the crossing of Seto bridge.

We decided to walk in Okayama city. Unfortunately there was not enough time to look at Okayama castle, Korakuen Japanese Garden etc,so we decided to walk around the Shotengai, the local shopping street.

Okayama is a bit of a quirky city with interesting bits that stand out like the police office at the side of a canal and some of the street clocks.

Views from the centre of Okayama, Japan.

We entered local small canteen style of restaurant and had udon noodle and curry rice. Reasonable price and homemade taste and the restaurant had a nice authentic retro style to it.

Authentic style restaurant near Okayama station, Japan.

Along the walk Nigel’s shoes decided to die with the sole detaching, so we both decided it was time to upgrade / replace our shoes.
Because we gave our shoes to the shop for recycling we were awarded a 5% discount. We also attempted to get the shoes for duty free but made the mistake of wearing the shoes prior to claiming the duty free discount, which made duty free null.

The correct procedure would have been to take the shoes in their box to the duty free first and then changed the shoes at the shop and handed the old shoes over for the 5% discount.

We also noted that the Okayama’s restaurants and bars looked very affordable and good value.

After that it was time to move to Osaka.