Okayama: Korakuen

   Today, I went to Korakuen in Okayama, Japan. It is a traditional-style Japanese garden and is considered to be one of the three most beautiful. As soon as I arrived, I was approached by an English-speaking guide and I accepted his help. As a solitary traveler in a foreign country, it is nice to have people to talk to in English every once in a while...since my Japanese brain muscle gets tired.

   The park was very beautiful, even though it was a bit cloudy that day (the weather report called for a 60 percent chance of rain while I was in the park, but thank goodness it did not rain!). My guide was very nice and he asked a lot of questions about American culture, my reactions to Japanese culture and food, etc. He was very surprised about how much I knew about Japanese culture, so I have a feeling that most of the Americans/English speaking foreigners he interacted with were typical tourists (this is not a bad thing, obviously...because I would certainly be more of a tourist if I had not been living in Japan for the past 3 months or studying Japanese for the past 6 years). After I walked through the whole garden, we parted ways, said our good-byes, and I went to pick up the bus back to the station and then walk to my hotel.

   My experience a Korakuen was very nice...I enjoyed seeing the scenery and gardens: it was very peaceful! Tomorrow, I will be going to Takamatsu to see Ritsurinkoen (another garden) and then moving on to Kochi where I will relax for the rest of the afternoon. I hope you all are enjoying your week and I hope that you have a good Monday!