Who doesn’t know Momotaro? This popular Japanese folklore tells us the story of a boy who was born from inside a giant momo (peach), hence the name Momotaro. He was found by an old woman floating down the river and raised by both her and her husband as the couple didn’t have any child. He went on a journey to Onigashima (demon island) to defeat demons. On the journey, he met a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant – all of them became his friends who agreed to help him in his quest. In the end, they won against the demons, returned home, and lived happily ever after.

Since the story is originated from Okayama Prefecture, Momotaro is used to boost the prefecture’s tourism as its mascot. They even named a street after him. And with that, visitors are sure to find Momotaro in various places throughout the city. Here are some of them which I found near Okayama Station.

By the way, Okayama is indeed famous for its white peach so it is not the home of Momotaro for nothing. So you can find lots of food and drinks with white peach (or just peach) as their ingredients. Other specialties include pione grape, muscat grape, and kibi dango (kibi dango is said to be used by Momotaro to recruit his three friends). I tried their super delish peach parfait once, and lucky me, it was White Peach Day! The shop employee offered a no-miss lottery for customers who ordered their peach menu. I got a free peach juice, yay! (The juice was 4th out of 5 gifts though. I guess I wasn’t that lucky, LOL)

And for souvenirs, I bought some kibi dango. Japanese are really smart with their packaging they all look so pretty and cute and I just can’t resist them.