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  From Okayama City you can take an hour-long express train ride to Tsuyama, near the prefecture's northern border. The ride itself is scenic, winding at times between the verdant hills along the Asahi river valley. This is rural Japan at its best, with terraced rice fields, small rivers and rustic bridges lending contour to the landscape. Houses with scoop-tiled roofs dot the countryside, along with the occasional comparatively grandiose town hall or civic center. Fields of rice show green, yellow or brown depending on the season, and mist hangs over pine-filled hilltops.  
 
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Tsuyama itself is a small town still tied strongly to the past. Many of the buildings date from past centuries, and the pace of life is slow. Here you can watch while a blacksmith creates sickles and knives using his own forge, taking the red-hot metal in tongs, beating it into shape with various implements, then sticking it into a pool of water to cool it. This is a type of craftsmanship rarely seen nowadays, but if you want to see it it’s free for the asking in Tsuyama. Also, if you have a group of 15 people or more, you can call ahead and arrange to see a display of samurai sword fighting. This is a re-enactment of the famous battle between Miyamoto Musashi and Kojiro.

Another feature of the town is a surprisingly well-stocked museum located by the tourist center. The three-story building houses various rooms with different themes: one is full of shells, another of insects, another of arctic animals, yet another of rocks and fossils. All of these can be enjoyed while listening to Mozart over the speaker system.

While the town itself is small, if you want to stay for a couple of days the surrounding countryside won’t disappoint. There are a plethora of nature-related activities to choose from. Camping, canoeing, skiing can all be enjoyed in season, and there are dozens of streams and hiking trails to be explored. The Tsuyama area is also probably the best place in western Japan to enjoy waterfalls, as there are several that have unusual characteristics. There is Iwai Falls, for instance, which you can walk through and see the cavern behind. And Non Falls, splashing over shining black bedrock, offers a one-of-a-kind contour that makes it look as though the slope were made completely of pyrite.

There are many hot spring spas and resorts available in the area, and some of these are listed in the convenient English language pamphlet available at the Tsuyama train station. 		 
     
 
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