Mihoko was a PhD student in the Pharmacy School when I was working there and also when Pauline was there, we both got on well with her. We thought it would be great to catch up since she’d been back in Japan about twelve years or so now. So we took the fast train to Okayama and she met us at the station. We dropped our luggage at the hotel and took a taxi to the Okayama Korakuen Gardens which were quite stunning. From Wikipedia: “Kōraku-en is a Japanese garden located in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenroku-en and Kairaku-en. Korakuen was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama. The garden reached its modern form in 1863.”
Okayama Castle was right next door so that was the next on our agenda. Unfortunately the Americans flattened it in 1945.
From Wikipedia: “Okayama Castle is a Japanese castle in the city of Okayama in Okayama Prefecture in Japan. The main tower was completed in 1597, destroyed in 1945 and replicated in concrete in 1966.”
It was a stunning day, the first day in Japan we hadn’t had to wear our coats and hats! It was very nice indeed to catch up with Mihoko, and thanks very much for taking the trouble to come and see us!
We had a great day, most enjoyable.
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