Kojima Jeans Street [児島ジーンズストリート]
Monument to Kojima Jeans Street
Photo : Okayama Prefectural Tourism Federation
Kojima Jeans Street
Photo : Okayama Prefectural Tourism Federation
Kojima Jeans Street is a street with many jeans shops.
It is located in Kojima district in Kurashiki city and is about 15 km south of the center of Kurashiki city.
Kojima district faces the Seto Inland Sea, and many areas around Kojima are the reclaimed land.
At first, because the land contained salt and was not suitable for the cultivation of rice, cotton was cultivate.
Therefore, spinning, textile dyeing and sewing industries developed in Kojima area.
In 1964, Tokyo Olympic Games was held and American culture was flooded into Japan.
So, a company in Kojima created Japan's first jeans using American denim in 1965.
In 1973, a factory in Kurashiki created Japan's first denim fabric.
Since that, many companies related to denim and jeans gathered in Kojima area.
Now, more than 40 percent of jeans made in Japan are made in Kojima.
Monument to Kojima Jeans Street
Photo : Okayama Prefectural Tourism Federation
Route bus with denim seats in Kojima
Photo : Okayama Prefectural Tourism Federation
Kojima Jeans Street is a street about 400 meters, and has a branch street about 200 meters.
About 40 shops for jeans are dotted along the street.
And there are some decoration and monuments using jeans along the street.
The main companies are the following. (The websites of some companies are Japanese.)
How to get here
By JR Uno Line, from Okayama to Kojima, 22 minutes by rapid train, 35 minutes by local train.
Then, about 15 minutes walk (about 0.9 km) from Kojima station.