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Getting Around

It’s a 15-minute walk from the station to the canal area, where almost everything is within a few minutes’ stroll. Walking is best for Kurashiki.

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HIROSHIMA-KEN

In addition to the sights of the prefecture’s cosmopolitan capital city, Hiroshima-ken is notable for the island of Miyajima and its famous shrine; the postcard-pretty fishing village of Tomo-no-ura; and, in the north of the prefecture, the spectacular Sandan-kyō gorge.

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SOUTHERN HIROSHIMA-KEN

Fukuyama

084 / pop 462,000

Fukuyama is a large industrial city without much to attract the traveller. Its convenient location on the main shinkansen route makes it a good jumping-off point for the fishing port of Tomo-no-ura (¥530, 30 minutes by bus) or Onomichi (¥400, 20 minutes by train), a gateway to the Inland Sea.

If timetables conspire to keep you in Fukuyama, you can while away a few hours in one of the city’s museums or at the reconstructed castle outside the station. There’s a tourist information office (922-2869; 8.30am-5.15pm) in the main station. The Japan Footwear Museum (; 934-6644; 4-16-27 Matsunaga-chō; admission ¥1000; 9am-5pm), five minutes’ walk from the nearby Matsunaga Station, chronicles footwear from sandals to moon boots. If you can wear it on your feet, you’ll find it in here somewhere. A 5-minute walk from the station is the Fukuyama Auto and Clock Museum (; 922-8188; 3-1-22 Kita-Yoshizu; admission ¥900; 9am-6pm), where you can mess around with old trucks, buses and antique cars.

Tomo-no-ura

084 / pop 5000

The delightful fishing port of Tomo-no-ura, with its picturesque old streets and temples, is just 30 minutes south of Fukuyama Station by bus. Perfectly situated in the middle of the Inland Sea coast, Tomo-no-ura flourished for centuries as a stopping-off point for boats travelling between western Japan and the capital, until the arrival of steam put an end to the town’s glory days in the late 19th century. Not a lot has happened here since.

The town is not completely unspoiled – several large concrete hotels, for instance, have done little to improve the skyline – but the old harbour and the narrow, winding streets that surround it retain much of the flavour of the town’s Edo-period heyday. The sublime view out to sea has hardly changed at all since a visiting Korean envoy described it in 1711 as ‘the finest in all Japan’.

Brochures and maps are available at JR Fukuyama Station and at various hotels in Tomo-no-ura itself. Bikes can be hired (¥300 for two hours) from a booth next to the ferry terminal; the town is small enough to be seen on foot in half a day.

Five minutes away by regular ferry is Sensui-jima, where there is a camping ground, a couple of hotels and some good views, especially at sunset (¥240 return, five minutes).

SIGHTS

At the top of the hill behind the ferry pier is the Tomo-no-Ura Historical Museum (; 982-1121; admission ¥150; 9am-5pm, closed Mon) and the site of the old castle, of which nothing remains but a few foundation stones. Stone steps lead down from here to a network of narrow streets lined with old houses and shops, which then leads towards the harbour. Close to the ferry pier is Fukuzenji temple (), which dates back to the 10th century. Adjoining the temple is Taichōrō (; admission ¥200; 8am-5pm), built in the 1690s. This is where you go for a classic view out across a narrow channel to the uninhabited island of Benten-jima, and its shrine. The road along the shoreline from here leads to the main harbour area, dominated by the stone lantern that used to serve as a lighthouse, known as the Jōyatō (). Close to the lantern is the former Ōta Residence (; 982-3553; admission ¥400; 10am-5pm, closed Tue), a fine collection of restored buildings from the mid-18th century. Guided tours take you through the impressive family residence and workplace. There is an English pamphlet.

Around the harbour and inland slightly