Some places really do have the image thing sorted out. Mention of the name Kurashiki generally conjures up a warm picture of traditional Japan, a town where life trundles along at a gentler pace than elsewhere. What tends not to be conjured up is that Kurashiki is a city of 450,000 people living right next to the unlovely sprawl of one of the country's biggest petrochemical complexes.
But of course the image thing works. Unless you possess an unbridled passion for chemical engineering plants, what brings you as a visitor to this part of Okayama Prefecture is that time-trap allure of a quainter Japan.
The small spot in Kurashiki that hogs the limelight is the area around its canal. Back in the 17th century, when local industry wore a pleasanter aspect, Kurashiki was a prosperous entrepo^t, its rich hinterland supplying the grain, sake, textiles and cotton that Kurashiki shipped off to Osaka and beyond. Before being transported, these commodities were kept in storehouses -- the kura that forms part of the city's name. And to provide better access to those kura, a canal was cut -- the waterway that is preserved for the city's tourism. With this canal, barges could reach the center of town from ships at anchor in the nearby Inland Sea.