2026 Mabi Fureai Park Waterside Plaza (まびふれあい公園 親水広場): A Full Day Out

A course for spending a full day of play close to home, built around the Waterside Plaza at Mabi Fureai Park (まびふれあい公園 親水広場) in Mabi-cho, Kurashiki City. Mabi Fureai Park opened in 2024 as a symbol of recovery from the Western Japan heavy rain disaster, and was designed by the architect Kengo Kuma (隈研吾). Across roughly 4.5 hectares along the levee of the Oda River (小田川) sit a waterside plaza, a play plaza, a lawn plaza and a free-use plaza where open flames are permitted — a layout that suits a place whose life has always been bound up with the river. Admission is free, so you can drift between the water and the play equipment as the mood takes you. The 2026 operating period for the waterside plaza has not been announced, so check the Kurashiki City information before you set out. In the morning, look into the enormous stone chamber of the Yata Otsuka Burial Mound (箭田大塚古墳), a nationally designated historic site, then lay out lunch at Kibi no Makibi Park (吉備真備公園), which honours the Nara-period scholar Kibi no Makibi. After lunch, take a cool break inside Mabi Fureai Center (マービーふれあいセンター). In the afternoon, send the spray flying at the waterside plaza. A day that follows Mabi's path from ancient times to the present.