Off the Beaten Track in Southern Okayama – Train Cruise
oh nice quite [Music] dramatic today we journey from from fukuyama in eastern Hiroshima prefecture on three train lines to our goal of kurashiki 54 km away in okama [Music] prefecture we take a factory tour in the home of denim production in [Music] Japan we soak in the ambience of three centuries past and save a local [Music] Delicacies oh [Music] delicious we visit a city that prospered on the textile industry Sean Goran really and we get a chance to admire works by masters of the art [Music] World money how did these all coming about in the same place Train Cruise with me on Rail lines that leave the beaten tourist tracks to delve into local [Music] culture our trip begins in fukuyama Hiroshima prefecture’s second largest city with a population of 450,000 it grew up as a major Center of Trade and distribution fukuyama Castle stands right next to fukiyama station a connection point for the shinkansen and local trains hi my name is JJ and I’m here in fukiyama city in Hiroshima prefecture right in front of the beautifully renovated fukiyama castle and it’s from here that we start the journey the castle was renovated for its 400 th anniversary in 2022 and the museum exhibits inside were updated the first Lord of fukiyama who built the castle encouraged cotton cultivation thus laying the foundation for the area’s [Music] Prosperity fukuyama station stands on what were once the castle grounds and it’s said to be the closest station to a castle in the [Music] country it’s a great VI right there the modern with the [Music] traditional we take the fukuen line to our first stop off canab [Music] station [Music] the fields we pass were once planted with Cott not only is the region famous for cotton but also textiles around 1960 fukuyama produced cotton textiles were shipped throughout the [Music] country [Music] canab was especially prosperous at its peak the area had as many as 100 textile factories but it declined with the introduction of cheap Imports I’m heading for one of the few remaining weaving factories in the town oh it’s a big it’s a big Factory wow Nakamura yukihiro runs the company large automatic electric looms clack away in the factory look at the design on this you see the temple with the stairs going up look at [Music] that this traditional design in brocade is made by interweaving Gold Silver and other colored [Music] threads the technique arrived from China 400 years ago and evolved in Japan to create luxurious gorgeous fabric the broade is often used in sacred and aristocratic situations such as places of [Applause] worship [Music] and look how technical it is look at all the cogs and moving Parts all over this machine top to bottom and this thing going backwards and forwards here the shuffle top and duck again and duck again these punched slats of wood dictate how the threads are woven to generate the design the holes specify the order in which the colored threads are [Music] wosen the factory keeps more than 3,000 patterns some over a century old enabling them to fill the needs of longtime customers such as temples and [Applause] shrines [Music] of course they also apply their skill to developing new designs for the times this brade will be used to dress traditional [Music] dolls their fabric is also employed in more modern items such as parasoles sandals and sneakers [Music] [Music] let’s push on oh here he comes I think it’s one carriage all the trains on this line have diesel engines oh I get it door open me oh it’s quite retro [Music] we’ve hopped on the Ibara Railway a commuter line that stretches 41 km into okama [Music] prefecture [Music] [Applause] after long years of Anticipation by local residents the line opened in 1999 as a third sector company with prefectural and Municipal funding since then it serves 940,000 passengers annually and has become an invaluable mode of transport for the local communities we’re quite high up here as well we’re above [Music] everything when laying the line it was decided to have the trains run on an elevated track through the residential and agricultural areas this allowed for longer straight sections that let the trains travel at higher speeds Tokyo is much much more modern now but uh you can see some of the old style especially the rofs the RS are always really impressive here’s one coming up now look at these houses right here look at those [Music] [Applause] [Music] look at this Ibara denim little Windchimes here with the fabric on them is that is that denim oh we have a denim Store look you see of all the jeans here the main color is this dark blue Isn’t it nice to get out of the train station and be right here inside a denim shop as soon as you leave the train perfect Ibara is one of the early pioneers of the denim industry in Japan inteo dying has long been popular in the region along with weaving Ibara had been mass-producing thick Indigo fabrics for school uniforms and workclothes for more than a century about 60 years ago this technology was applied to making denim [Music] even the bibs on the jel statues are denim how cool is that Ibara has a dozen or so denim companies I’m heading to one now I think this is the factory hi okamoto hiroyuki is the factory [Music] manager the threads are dyed in this all important stage in denim production this is the powdered dye derived from Indigo [Music] plants the threads are soaked in the dye then left to dry they repeat this process over and over and over so this is a really big Factory floor on two levels it starts down the bottom with the white cotton immediately turns yellow and goes up this way and becomes green right here and as it goes up and down up and down through the stages it gets Bluer and Bluer darker and darker Ibara denim is well-known abroad for its high quality and it’s mainly shipped to Europe and the United States [Music] the dying process at denim factories consumes large quantities of [Music] water so the municipality is taking action to treat the Wastewater oo [Music] wow at this Factory the water is purified in three stages microorganisms first clean the water then Machinery removes what little residual waste remains this year the purified water enriches the surrounding agricultural [Music] Fields now off to see what else they have here oh lots of denim artifacts oh lots of denim artifacts here look coers hats bags wow [Music] fantastic you paste the denim on a bamboo frame and in 15 minutes it’s done nearly [Music] nearly fans like this are indispensable during Japan’s hot summers and you see them a lot in photos and pictures of [Music] old nice back to front just like a normal um like a normal fan does it work it does work hang on here it comes I think I’m in luck today oo it’s a totally different vibe of train even more retro this way oh wow what a great color nice earthy color oh wow this is great look at the wooden finish the paneling on the walls wow this is Elegance look at this this train is the Yume yasuragi which means something like dreamy tranquility and okama local designed it inside and out in fact it’s the only one of its kind and you can ride it for just the regular [Music] Fair the concept is to have passengers relax in a cozy [Music] atmosphere oh look at that [Music] look it’s like being at home that’s so great oh [Music] lovely [Music] hey this is me I hear there’s a popular Suite sold near the station here so why not check it out so I think this is it this is the spot the suite is made from a variet of sweet potatoes with high sugar content that have been cultivated in this region for centuries Yaki IMO or roasted sweet potatoes are popular snacks throughout Japan this variety secretes a honey sweet syrup when baked so this shop bakes them on low heat for over an hour so as not to burn the glaze oh look at that look at the presentation [Music] in summer they first freeze the yimo then let it soften and serve it chilled look at that it’s like a sheret ice cream that’s really interesting consistency he’s likeing us M oh that’s nice very nice idea but as delicious as they are this is not the Shop’s primary trays in fact the company is a stonemason which processes and sells tombstones and other items wow Saku is the second generation to run this family business he has put his knoow in handling Stone to good use roasting sweet [Music] potatoes the 10 m High chamber maintains a constant temperature and humidity year [Music] round they store sweet potatoes harvested in fall for a year to mature and make them even sweeter Moran’s father wanted to enjoy roasted sweet potatoes year round so they built the chamber over the course of a [Music] year [Music] I love finding surprise Delicacies like this it makes traveling fun I’m sure you [Music] agree next stop [Music] yak [Music] during the Edo period from the 17th to 19th centuries Yak prospered from Regional Dao Lords and their entourages who would stop to rest on their Journeys to and from Edo now called Tokyo many of the original buildings line the Main [Music] Street this grandl looking building was where the Dao would [Music] Lodge God look at how imposing and imp impressive this is wow and is this my guide my volunteer guide is Yamoto [Music] kazaki look at this I love this kind of Japanese house where you can literally Lose Yourself there’s so many rooms and doors I can walk into another room like this another one here I have a great view just here and it just keeps going like a maze the grounds also include 11 storehouses small houses and other structures the property was once owned by a sake Brewer whose employees and seasonal Brewing hands also lived on the premises the Dao would have been quarted in the largest house in the back it stands on slightly Higher Grounds appropriate for his [Music] rank the sliding doors feature the local specialty cotton flowers [Music] some of the town’s traditional buildings have been renovated into tourist accommodations this initiative which began in 2015 allows visitors to get a feel for the Japan of old oh wow this is this is fantastic this entire building which I have to myself once accommodated the Lord’s vassals the renovations retain as much of the original building as possible such as the pillars and [Music] beans oh it’s another entire room look at this wow I have to crawl in and it’s another T room inside the roof of this little building this little apartment that’s all my own [Music] here back in the day the Loft was used for [Music] storage this is complete time slip mode now you could be this is not 2023 this could be any time in the last 400 years the yaka townscape is actually the first in Asia to be recognized by this Italian initiative it’s an Innovative Hospitality concept that distributes various functions of a hotel and its accommodations throughout the town to let visitors enjoy the entire [Music] area so I’ve walked less than minutes from the in where I’m staying at lovely building to another gorgeous building right here the public [Music] [Music] Bar [Music] dinner consists of local produce Meat and [Music] seafood wow this is a Japanese mantis shrimp caught in the waters of okama prefecture it’s it’s most delicious in summer here we [Music] go M very good very juicy M oh delicious M oh the main dish is locally raised pork brazed in white [Music] wine there we go the steak is ultra tender you see how squidgy that is how soft it is [Music] [Music] beautiful [Music] day two and we head further east on the Ibara [Music] [Music] Railway oh we meet [Music] youday [Music] w [Music] some lovely young bamboo here oh and some really young bamboo much thinner oo that’s nice this town has long been famed for its bamboo the young CHS are used in cooking and mature bamboo is turned into good charcoal that retains heat for a long [Music] time I pop into a company that applies bamboo in new ways for modern Lifestyles oh shut it wow the company produces furniture from tables and chairs to sheling all made from [Music] bamboo [Music] this is actually beautiful table I wouldn’t know this was made of bamboo if you didn’t tell me this was made of bamboo oh wow that’s so interesting looks like a completely hard chair but there’s some spring there some bounce to it whole bamboo is Hollow in the center so it only produces thin pieces of Ward it also split splits more easily than Timber so it’s not conducive for use in [Music] [Applause] [Music] Furniture 25 years ago this company developed technology to make strong boards by gluing several pieces of bamboo together and compressing them this new product was developed due to a decrease in demand for bamboo products and an oversupply of fresh bamboo left unchecked bamboo grows uncontrollably and can be considered a pest [Music] wow this is one of the big attractions of the Ibara Railway the bridge over the Takahashi river is 716 M long the longest on this rail [Music] line we’re going around we’re following the river oh nice quite dramatic this curving Bridge is a rarity in Japan and the train hardly sways or shutters as it runs along one long seamless [Music] track we will soon be arriving at Q&A okay so just come off this train now and I’m changing trains through this passage here to this platform for the last leg we Chang to the Jr Haku line and heads to our destination and one of ama’s Premier sightseeing [Music] spots [Music] to round off our journey let’s visit the kurashiki bikan historical quarter and have a wander [Music] around much effort has been put into preserving the old homes and storehouses from a time when the area prospered from the textile industry [Music] oh wow wow what an amazing time slip Street oh you can you can feel the the well the kurashiki river which flows through the center of town is actually a canal dug 400 years ago the canal connected the interior with the sea and carried cotton products to be transported to other parts of the [Music] country right in the middle of the traditional townscape is a western style building oh fantastic entrance stepping out of the really Japanese into what I would describe as Greek wow oh wow it’s Western Art no no Japanese artist but a western girl G kimono wow it’s a combination of Western and Japanese wow pizaro really Gorgan really Sean oh my goodness how did these all come about in the same place [Music] Mone [Music] okay the museum was built in 1930 by entrepreneur orara Mago Saburo who made his fortune in textiles he was also a patron to a young okama artist Kojima toiro an Arts lover orara funded three trips for Kojima to study painting in Europe and at the same time commissioned him to buy paintings for [Music] him Japanese had few opportunities to come into contact with Western Art at the time so orara decided to open his collection to the [Music] public this is the first private Museum of Weston art in Japan oh how do you Kaa AKO takes time to talk with me one of Kojima tajo’s paintings holds a special place place at the [Music] [Music] Museum [Music] I think there’s been a lot of surprises on this trip for sure the residents here have become experts in developing and increasing their culture um be that with the denim trade or the bamboo trade or the cotton trade but what’s me most is that they have been able to increase that culture expand it that’s very interesting to me how they extend the life of the culture I think on this train journey I’ve done here I’ve had a little glimpse of that I’d really like to taste some [Music] more
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Follow the threads of history from the castle town of Fukuyama, Hiroshima to the preserved merchant quarter of Kurashiki, Okayama.