Okawachiyama Village — Attraction in Imari

Not worth planning a whole day around coming here. The bus only runs once every 2 hours and there definitely wasn’t enough to see or do for two hours. A basic run down of the entire village is pottery shops left, pottery shops right, a pretty well thought out up hill walking street with a river flowing through, and more pottery. As another reviewer said, after the first 3 shops, it all becomes the same. Honesty, if you’re in to buying Japanese pottery then this is the place. If you want to learn about Japanese pottery then go to the history museum in Nagasaki which contain a vast collection of pottery from around the northern Kyushu area. Also, the hill to the right side of the village isn’t worth climbing up as the trees block any clear view of the valley and there’s nothing else to look at up there. Only upsides are the river is very clean and has stairs where you can walk down into the river, and the 19th century Japanese architect makes for...

It’s okay - not super exciting or much to do unless you are shopping for artisan pottery. There’s pretty much one little street of shops and that’s it. Like come after you’ve already eaten bc there is really NO food here except for one pottery shop/cafe selling coffee and shaved ice and another little pottery shop by the parking lot selling a coffee/cake set. We took some very scenic pics but otherwise I don’t know if it was worth the $50 cab ride there. Leaving , we did take the bus which stops at the parking lot (with the bathroom and vending machine & benches) there a few times a day (12:22pm, 2:22pm, 4:22pm) and takes you to Inari train station for the bargain...

Totally worth the extra time to get here. Lovely little town with a great hike up to a very old temple/shrine. Porcelain has a subtlety in the decoration, compared to Arita. (Not much was open in Arita, whereas this town was ready for business.) wish there had been a place to eat, though. The two coffee shops we saw were closed. Another trail leads up to a memorial for the Korean potters who were enslaved to create their art in Japan. It’s a bit too understated, though, almost giving the (false) impression that those artists came to Japan...