HOME > Japan’s Local Treasures > Learn All About Denim at the Jeans Museum
Explore the world of Japanese denim in Okayama’s Kurashiki City at a museum run by local jeans manufacturer Betty Smith
Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture
The Kojima area of Okayama Prefecture’s Kurashiki City was the first production area for Japanese jeans, and even today it still remains a stronghold for Japanese denim with around 40 jeans manufacturers and stores.
Realizing that the more you understand jeans, the more you enjoy them, a local manufacturer called Betty Smith opened the Jeans Museum in 2003 on the site of Japan's oldest jeans factory. Since then, jeans-related facilities have opened one after another around the museum, and now the facility is called Jeans Museum & Village and is one of the main tourist attractions in Kurashiki. The premises are home to the Jeans Museum, a cafe, Betty's Farm, a dog run, and other facilities where the whole family can enjoy the charm of jeans.
The Jeans Museum introduces the history of jeans as well as the production process, along with displays of equipment such as the Union Special sewing machine used exclusively for heavy-weight jeans when the production of jeans began in Japan. There is even a workshop to experience making jeans as well. We certainly hope you will enjoy learning about Japanese denim and find a new appreciation for jeans.
How to get there
From Shin-Osaka Station, take the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen to Okayama Station (about 40 minutes). From there, take the JR Seto-ohashi Line train to Kojima Station (about 20 minutes), then transfer to a bus and get off at the Jeans Museum entrance (about 15 minutes). From Shin-Osaka Station, take the Shinkansen bullet train to Okayama Station (about 40 minutes), take the JR Seto-ohashi Line to Kojima Station (about 20 minutes), transfer to the bus, and get off at the Jeans Museum entrance (about 15 minutes).
5-2-70 Kojima Shimono-cho, Kurashiki-shi, Okayama-ken
