Japan City Series - Chubu Area - Okazaki-shi, Aichi-ken
I kick off my Japan City series of the Chubu area with Okazaki!
The city of Okazaki is a special place for me personally since I spent 3 months there living at a home stay while going to a Japanese language school. So, even though I may have a personal bias towards Okazaki, if you plan on making a stop in Achi-ken, especially in the nearby Nagoya, here are a few reasons why Okazaki should make your list.
But first, here’s the location (via Google maps):
Access via Train(s)
From Nagoya
Nagoya Station to Okazaki Station
Tokaido Line Rapid - 32 min
Meitetsu Nagoya Station to Higashi-Okazaki Station
Meitetsu Limited Express - 31 min
From Tokyo
Tokyo Station to Okazaki Station (Option 1)
Tokaido Shinkansen (Nozomi) to Nagoya; transfer to Tokaido Line Rapid - 2hr16min - ¥11,730
Tokyo Station to Okazaki Station (Option 2)
Tokaido Shinkansen (Kodama) to Toyohashi; transfer to Tokaido Line Rapid - 2hr26min - ¥9,500
My Top 3 recommendations to enjoy while visiting Okazaki for the day would be:
Okazaki Castle
Located along the Oto River, Okazaki Castle provides a peaceful experience combined with the park grounds attached and the nearby river to enjoy a casual stroll. It’s quite a historical location due to its association to Tokugawa Ieyasu. It’s not an extremely big castle to tour but the view from the top is beautiful and like many castles, the stamp you can collect at the top is definitely worth the price of admission. I won’t spoil that for you though!
It’s in close proximity to the downtown area, so if you venture there after if you’d like or head to my recommended #2 spot.
Access & Details:
Kakukyu Hatcho Miso Factory
If you are a fan of anything miso, then visiting the Kakukyu Hatcho Miso factory is a must. This factory makes a style of miso that is quite uncommon throughout the country and the world. The deep and darker flavour of their miso that you’ll get to taste and buy (if you’d like) becomes a memorable experience.
They offer tours of the factory throughout the day and when the tour ends, you’ll get to taste their miso in a soup form and compare that to other styles. You’ll notice right away how unique and robust this miso is compared to ones you’ve likely tried before.
After your tour is completed, you can visit the attached omiyage (souvenir) shop and or the cafeteria to get a nice cooked meal made with this very miso itself. Yum!
And if you are feeling even more adventurous, I implore you to try their miso ice cream!
Access & Details:
Kouen Mae Ramen
I have mentioned this jewel of a ramen shop previously on my blog, but honestly, I will never stop talking about this place and will continue to bring it up as much as I can.
Since that post back in 2019, I have returned as recently as 2024 and noticed a few things have changed, mainly in terms of the shop itself.
The parking stalls in front of the shop have been removed and replaced by a covered sitting/waiting area which holds around 20 people or so. If more people are waiting then that, they they have to start a standing line after the last stool.
They have two parking lots, one beside the shop and the second is an overfill lot just a little bit past the building on the left hand side.
With that said, this place has sky rocketed in popularity, thus the change in their queue system. So, waiting times to get in are much longer than before back a number of years ago. Just expect to wait a bit, especially if you plan on visiting on a weekend.
The interior of the shop has changed slightly with the counter only seating accommodating 8 people instead of 7 now.
The food is just as good as before. No drop in quality. Always consistent, light but extremely flavourable with a soup that won’t leave you with a stomachache. I promise!
If you go and it doesn’t live up to your expectations, I’ll pay for your next bowl of ramen. haha!
Access & Details:
Closing
I hope you found these little suggestions useful if you ever find yourself in Okazaki. If you do go, please let me know! I would love to hear your story and find out what you most loved to see, do and/or eat during your adventure there. Cheers!