{"id":30173,"date":"2019-09-23T14:31:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T06:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=30173"},"modified":"2026-03-14T19:40:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:40:01","slug":"11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-07-kurashiki-bikan-historical-quarter-traditional-boat-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2019\/09\/23\/11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-07-kurashiki-bikan-historical-quarter-traditional-boat-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 07 – Kurashiki – Bikan Historical Quarter – Traditional Boat Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

You shouldn\u2019t leave Kurashiki until you\u2019ve tried the traditional boat tour<\/b>. That is, unless you\u2019re already going to do the same thing on a larger scale at Yanagawa too. I would indeed be doing that as part of my planned itinerary on Day 09, but since I was already in Kurashiki and the boat ride fee was just a modest \u00a5500\/SGD6.40, why not.<\/p>\n

Each boat can seat six adults, excluding the boatman. On expected busy days, you\u2019ll want to book your slots first as soon as you get to the Quarter, as the slots fill up really fast and a few hours\u2019 wait seems common. Once you\u2019ve got the slot you want, you can then take the in-between hours to explore the Quarter.<\/p>\n

During busy hours, there seem to be two boats touring at the same time. They do a loop around the canal in opposite directions, i.e. there will be one specific point in the ride where both boats will pass each other, so you\u2019ll want to have your camera ready if you\u2019d like a specifically framed shot of that. The circuit takes about 20\u201325 minutes, and the boatman will provide commentary in Japanese.<\/p>\n

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\u00a5500 for an adult ride. The afternoon slots on a fairly busy Saturday were sold out hours in advance. There was one seat left for the 3pm ride when I got my ticket just past noon, so I took it \u2014 and spent the next three hours walking the length and breadth of the Quarter while waiting for my turn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Boat cam view LOL.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In a sense, the view you get from the boat isn\u2019t dramatically different from what you get on the pavement, aside from it being a lower angle and less interrupted by other visitors. The sensory experience though is intoxicating \u2014 you feel like you\u2019re being brought back to old Japan. And yes, the bamboo hat they make you wear adds to the experience!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The point where you get on and off the boat. The boat uncle on the right gave me a friendly wave and flashed the V sign just after he saw me taking this picture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another striking visual perspective you get on the ride \u2014 the other boat coming from the opposite direction and passing under the bridge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The white-walled shop houses that are characteristic of the Edo period.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The ride offers fun opportunities to people-watch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The commentary was in Japanese, but the boatman also managed a few English words to emphasise a few selected information points. He clearly loves his job!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Very picturesque.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The traditional boat tour is one of the highlight activities in Kurashiki. Given the fairly modest boat ride price and also the uniqueness of the experience, I recommend you include this activity in your itinerary. Remember to get your slots first as soon as you arrive!<\/p>\n

Next post on Ohashi House<\/a> @ Bikan Historical Quarter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You shouldn\u2019t leave Kurashiki until you\u2019ve tried the traditional boat tour. That is, unless you\u2019re already going to do the same thing on a larger scale at Yanagawa too. I would indeed be doing that as part of my planned<\/p>\n

Read More 11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 07 – Kurashiki – Bikan Historical Quarter – Traditional Boat Ride<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[661,658,608,613],"class_list":["post-30173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traveling","tag-chugoku-kyushu-japan-2019","tag-oppo-reno-10x-zoom","tag-sony-a7-iii","tag-sony-fe-24-105mm-f4-0","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blog-2019-japan-chugoku-kyushu-day-07-A7_09072-kurashiki-bikan-historial-district.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38486,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30173\/revisions\/38486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}