Kurashiki Walking Map: A digital map has been created to let locals enjoy the flavors of three different eras.

The central area of Kurashiki City is, as everyone knows, a “tourist destination.”

With old merchant houses, brick buildings, and cafes created by renovating traditional homes, it is a town where many historic buildings remain.

While tourists visit to enjoy Kurashiki’s distinctive streetscape, for people who live locally in Kurashiki, it is probably a town they know well.

People who have lived in Kurashiki for many years may have fewer opportunities to walk around the town.

“We want people who live in Kurashiki to walk around the town. We want to create opportunities for local people to enjoy the town of Kurashiki that generations before us have preserved.”

With that in mind, the “Kurashiki Walking Map,” created for local people to enjoy, was born.

Using a digital map, you can travel between three different eras and experience Kurashiki as it was in each one.

With the Kurashiki Walking Map in hand, I went out to explore the town of Kurashiki for myself.

Here, I share how to enjoy the Kurashiki Walking Map based on my experience, along with interviews with its three planners.

You’ll find tips for enjoying Kurashiki more deeply than ever before.

What is the Kurashiki Walking Map?

The Kurashiki Walking Map is a digital map that uses location information linked to digital devices such as smartphones and an online map to showcase the charms of Kurashiki.

There are three maps from different eras, letting you enjoy seeing how the town of Kurashiki has changed into what it is today.

The maps are “Bird’s-Eye View of Kurashiki City—1963,” “Bird’s-Eye View of Kurashiki City—2005,” and “Map of Former Town Names.”

The two bird’s-eye-view maps use illustrations by Okamoto Naoki, a Kurashiki City-based artist.

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The Map of Former Town Names, meanwhile, shows the administrative town names used by the former Kurashiki City in 1935.

Kurashiki is a place where many buildings with distinctive features from different eras remain, including Edo-period merchant houses, Meiji-period brick textile mills, and modernist reinforced-concrete architecture.

As you move between the three maps, it’s fun to see not only the history of the buildings but also how the town has changed.

This map is especially enjoyable for local people who know what the town used to look like.

How to use the Kurashiki Walking Map

Here’s how to use the Kurashiki Walking Map.

Open the URL for the Kurashiki Walking Map on your smartphone, and you’ll see a screen like the one below.

There’s a menu bar at the bottom of the screen. Let’s try using it.

First, tap “GPS” and allow the use of location information.

An illustration of a person will then appear at roughly the same spot as your current location.

For example, if you enable GPS at the Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel, the screen will look like the one below.

This is the map titled “Bird’s-Eye View of Kurashiki City—1963.”

You can see that the Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel was still under construction. It looks completely different from the present-day view, doesn’t it?

Next, let’s open a map from a different era at the same location.

Tap “MAPS” on the menu bar to display the map options.

Let’s switch to the “Bird’s-Eye View of Kurashiki City—2005” map.

The Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel, which looks much the same as it does today, now appears on the map too.

If you look closely at the two bird’s-eye-view maps, you’ll see cars driving and people walking.

Zoom in to see the bird’s-eye-view illustrations in great detail, and enjoy the maps with a sense of what life was like at the time.

Tap the flag for the “Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel” to learn about the building and its highlights.

When you open the “Map of Former Town Names,” you’ll see not only the town names but also places marked with flags.

The flags mark the locations of stone monuments inscribed with former town names.

I went to see one for myself.

I visited the stone monument for “Ebisu-machi.”

Tap the Ebisu-machi flag on the screen to learn the monument’s location and the origin of the town name.

Looking at the Map of Former Town Names made me feel as if I had traveled back in time.

By the way, tap “SWITCH” in the menu to display a map of the present day.

In some places, you may be standing right on a road today, but on the 1963 map you’ll find yourself inside a house…!

Be sure to enjoy the maps by switching between eras.

Related event announced

The Kurashiki Walking Map is actually something that local people who have lived in Kurashiki for a long time can enjoy even more than tourists.

That’s because they “know what Kurashiki used to be like.”

Looking at the Kurashiki Walking Map, you’ll likely find yourself chatting away, saying things like, “There used to be a ___ here…”

To help people enjoy Kurashiki as it was in each era and as it is today, a related event will be held to mark the launch of the Kurashiki Walking Map!

Why not explore downtown Kurashiki from a different perspective than before?

[Ended] Kurashiki Walking Digital Stamp Rally 2021

A stamp rally using the Kurashiki Walking Map will be held, taking participants from well-known Kurashiki spots to more off-the-beaten-path places.

There are two routes: the “Mountain Route” and the “River Route.”

Both take around one to two hours.

Among those who collect stamps at six or more locations on either route, 160 people will be selected by lottery to receive prizes.

Be sure to explore parts of Kurashiki that even local people don’t often visit.

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There are also places where postcards are available, separate from the event.

There are six postcard designs in total.

The postcards at Achiterasu Spot, by the way, feature the area around JR Kurashiki Station.

See if you can find the others as you explore the town.

The Kurashiki Walking Map and related event were planned by Hiromichi Shimizu of the Urban Development Promotion Division, Urban Development Department, Construction Bureau, Kurashiki City.

Also involved were Jiro Komoto and Nahoko Nakagawa of Urabe Sekkei Co., Ltd.

We interviewed all three to learn about what inspired them to create the map and how its creators themselves enjoy using it.

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