What Is Kojima, Japan's Jeans Town, and the Seto Ohashi Bridge?
This guide is for visitors who want to know what Kojima is and what they can do there. Kojima is a district of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, on the Seto Inland Sea. The official tourism site calls it the first production area of Japanese jeans. It also sits at the foot of the Seto Ohashi Bridge, which links Honshu and Shikoku.
We used the English page for the Kojima area and the access page of the official Kurashiki tourism site. All pages were read on 2026-10-04. Opening days change, so confirm them before you go.
Getting there from Kurashiki
Kojima is about 16 km from Kurashiki Station. By car it takes about 30 minutes, via prefectural roads 22 and 21. The route bus to JR Kojima Station takes about 50 minutes. From Okayama Station the Marine Liner on the Seto-Ohashi Line takes about 25 minutes, according to the access page.
Jeans
The tourism site says Kojima is a town filled with jeans shops. It lists two main places for visitors:
- Kojima Jeans Street: a retro-style shopping street about 400 metres long, lined with shops of local jeans makers.
- Jeans Museum: described as Japan's first jeans museum. It explains the history of jeans with panels and displays. It is open 09:00 to 18:00 and is free, open all year except the year-end and New Year holidays.
The page also says you can take a tour on a jeans-themed bus and make your own original jeans. We did not find prices or booking details, so ask at the tourist information office.
Seto Ohashi Bridge
The site describes the Seto Ohashi Bridge as one of the bridges that connect Honshu and Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea. The bridge complex includes suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges and a truss bridge, and the site says it includes some of the world's longest bridges. It is lit after sunset and looks different from the daytime view.
A sightseeing boat lets visitors see the bridge up close. The site also lists a theme park near Washuzan. We did not find hours or prices for either, so check the operators.
A view of the islands
The city's nature page describes Washuzan Hill, 133 metres above sea level. It says you can see a little more than 50 islands and the Seto Ohashi Bridge from the top, and that the hill is chosen as one of the 100 Best Sunsets in Japan. The same page mentions Ojigadake Hill, known for strangely shaped rocks.
History museums
- Nozaki's Historical Residence: the former home of a salt-making family that grew rich about 200 years ago. The grounds cover about 3,000 tsubo (about 9,917 square metres) and hold a main house, an earthen storehouse and a teahouse. The storehouse displays salt-making tools. Open 09:00 to 17:00, last admission 16:30. Closed Mondays (the next day if Monday is a holiday) and from 25 December to 1 January. Adults 500 yen, children 300 yen.
- Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum: a restored building of a Meiji-era shipping agent in the port town of Shimotsui. It shows what a merchant house looked like and sells local products. Open 09:00 to 17:00, last admission 16:30. Closed Tuesdays (the next day if Tuesday is a holiday) and from 29 December to 3 January. The page lists a restaurant with Japanese and Italian food.
Contact and help
The Kurashiki Ekimae Tourist Information Office is open from 09:00 to 18:00. In an emergency call 119 for an ambulance or fire, or 110 for the police.
Fitting it into a day
Opening hours decide the order. The Jeans Museum stays open until 18:00, so it suits the end of the day. The Nozaki residence and the Shimotsui museum both stop admitting visitors at 16:30, so visit them earlier. Days matter too, because the Nozaki residence closes on Mondays and the Shimotsui museum on Tuesdays. The English page on the same site says the local bus from Kurashiki Station to Kojima takes about 1 hour, so allow extra time if you do not take the train through Okayama.
What we could not verify, and therefore left out
- Prices and times of the jeans bus tour and jeans-making classes.
- Hours and prices of the Seto Ohashi boat and the theme park.
- Whether shops on Jeans Street close on particular days.
Related guides
Sources
All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.
- Kojima Area (Kurashiki tourism site) — (jeans, bridge, museums, office hours)
- Nature (Kurashiki tourism site) — (Washuzan Hill)
- Access to Kurashiki (Kurashiki tourism site, in Japanese) — (travel times to Kojima)
- Safety tips for travelers (Japan National Tourism Organization) — (emergency numbers)