Multicolor characters or pictures are written in an optical disk in a visible manner. The optical disk comprises a figure writing layer for writing a visible figure in addition to a data recording layer for recording data. Recording of user data in the data recording layer and the writing of a visible figure in the figure writing layer are performed using the same optical disk drive. In one example, the figure writing layer comprises phase change layers that are formed via protection layers in a region sandwiched between a pair of reflective layers. By writing figure data separated into individual basic colors in the phase change layers individually, a multicolor figure can be made visible.