Did you know there’s a Manekineko Museum in Okayama? It’s not the best-known tourist spot, but it’s up in Kanayama, near Bizen. I went there a few weeks ago while my friend was in town. The museum is small, but fun and quirky inside. They have manekineko (sometimes translated as “lucky cat”) figurines of every shape and size. My favorite one was made of Legos! They also have some very stylish merchandise made by local artists.
As a bonus, Kanayama Temple is a short walk from the museum. I enjoyed this place quite a bit. It’s very old and has a lot of history behind it, but it also feels raw and undiscovered – there are few tourists, and you can get as close as you like to the exhibits. The temple is actually the converted residence of an old lord (藩主) of Okayama, so you can enter his room and view the peaceful little garden just outside. It has several interesting features, including a few rooms with sliding door art (襖絵) as well as old ‘baskets’ (お籠) used as transportation by important people.
Overall, it was a fun daytrip, and definitely worth the price of admission!
