Western Honshū
Legend (or marketing) says if you stroll this sandbar dubbed 'Angel Road' with your loved one, your heart's desire will come true. In reality it's three…
Must-see attractions in Western Honshū
Hiroshima Region
It's a steep hike up to Shirataki-yama, a collection of sculptures of the 500 Rakan disciples of the Buddha, but a picturesque bonus are the excellent…
Western Honshū
This touristy shrine is part of neighbouring Gohyakurakan, which contains 500 statues that were built to memorialise fallen silver-mine workers. Each…
Naoshima
Adding to the Benesse Art Site's suite of museums is yet another design from the irrepressible Tadao Ando. It houses works by the renowned Korean-born…
Western Honshū
Although 'academy' conjures images of Ivy League schools, this humble schoolhouse is anything but that. In the 1850s, Yoshida Shōin lectured students here…
Western Honshū
This National Treasure is the family burial temple of the local Mōri lords, and has a Zen-style hall dating from 1327, making it the oldest example of Zen…
Western Honshū
Prominent Taishō-era artist and poet Takehisa Yumeji (1884–1934) is particularly known for his bijin-ga (images of beautiful women), and various wistfully…
Miyajima
Dominating the hill immediately to the north of Itsukushima-jinja is this huge pavilion, built in 1587 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The atmospheric hall is…
Western Honshū
Built in 1906, this handsome example of Meiji architecture, one of the few such remaining original buildings in Japan (most were destroyed or relocated),…
Miyajima
Miyajima has several important Buddhist temples, including the 1201 Daigan-ji, which dates back to the Heian period and is dedicated to Benzaiten, the…
Tomo-no-ura Museum of History & Folklore
Hiroshima Region
This museum sits at the top of the hill behind the harbour, with exhibits relating to local industry and craft, but without English explanations. On the…
Hiroshima Region
Close to the waterfront, this temple dates back to the 10th century. Adjoining the temple is Taichōrō, a reception hall built in the 1690s. This is where…
Western Honshū
This sprawling Shintō shrine is dedicated to an ancient warrior who subdued a local demon-bandit called Ura and brought the area under central control…
Kurashiki Museum of Folk-craft
Western Honshū
This museum is housed in an attractive complex of rice warehouses dating from the late 18th century, with interesting exhibits of exquisite household…
Western Honshū
Located 22km northeast of Hagi, this sprawling site shows the scale of traditional Japanese iron-making, which existed for centuries, and the skills of…
Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum
Hiroshima
This prefectural art museum has a small collection featuring Salvador Dalí's Dream of Venus and the artwork of Hirayama Ikuo, who was in the city during…
Western Honshū
At Kasa-yama, 6km north of Higashi-Hagi, this Hagi glassware showroom and shop displays some beautiful coloured-glass vases and cups, and you can watch…
Western Honshū
Steep stone steps lead up to this shrine in Tsurugata-yama-kōen, a park that overlooks the old area of town. The shrine is home to a wisteria tree thought…
Western Honshū
This is where you come to get that picture of yourself with one foot in Honshū and the other in Kyūshū. For the 780m submarine walk to Kyūshū, take the…
Western Honshū
The broken walls of Tsuwano-jō brood over the valley. A slightly rickety chairlift takes you slowly up the hillside, and there's a further 15-minute walk…
Hiroshima
This curved concrete monument houses a list of the names of all the known victims of the atomic bomb. It stands at one end of the pond at the centre of…
Western Honshū
A wooden shrine dating from 1520, most notable for Gion Matsuri, a festival that opens with the Sagi-mai (Egret Dance) held held here on 20 July each year…
Western Honshū
A simple shrine in a leafy setting, decorated with Bizen-yaki (Bizen pottery) figures of the animals of the Chinese zodiac. To get there, exit Imbe…
Western Honshū
This is a small museum with exhibits of scrolls, armour and paintings that were once the property of the Ikeda clan (who ruled Okayama for much of the Edo…
Western Honshū
Reptile enthusiasts, or those with kids in tow, might want to pop into this small viewing facility, where several of the bizarre albino snakes unique to…
Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial
Hiroshima
This memorial in the Peace Memorial Park honours the Korean victims of the atomic bomb. Many Koreans were shipped over to Japan to work as slave labour…
Western Honshū
The stately French Renaissance–style Jinpū-kaku Villa, built as accommodation for the Taishō emperor when he visited as Crown Prince in 1907, now houses a…
Western Honshū
Located in Kikkō-kōen is this former home of a middle-ranking samurai family from the mid-Edo period. You cannot enter the buildings, but you can walk…
Hiroshima Region
Japan's Inland Sea was once a haven for pirates, and Inno-shima was the base of one of the three Murakami pirate clans. Today you can get a taste for that…
Miyajima
South of Itsukushima-jinja, stone steps (before you reach Miyajima History & Folklore Museum) lead up from the road to this picturesque pagoda. There's a…
Western Honshū
Tools, armoury and Bizen pottery are among the historic artefacts exhibited at this museum, located near the entrance to Kōraku-en.
Western Honshū
On Kasa-yama, this is Hagi's own beer and citrus-juice factory, where you can stop in to see the very small team at work, taste juice in the attached shop…
Western Honshū
Worth visiting in Tanoura is this perfectly preserved 1902 school, setting for the Twenty-Four Eyes story and the 1954 film. It's a short walk from the…
Hiroshima Region
A Shintō shrine dedicated to the god of sake. Sake is brewed here every year in the lead-up to Saijō Sake Matsuri. It's a five-minute walk north of Saijo…
Naoshima
Minamidera, one of the sites within the Art House Project, is a James Turrell experiment with light. Queue up to enter in total darkness…and wait…
Okayama Prefectural Bizen Ceramics Art Museum
Western Honshū
This ceramics-focused museum exhibits pieces from the Muromachi (1333–1568) and Momoyama (1568–1600) periods, plus work by several modern artists who have…
Hiroshima
Located in an interesting 1970s building, this museum has a decent collection of minor works by well-known painters including Picasso, Gauguin, Monet and…
Western Honshū
Buddhist temple with interesting wooden carvings of animal spirits in the eaves, near Kurashiki's Bikan quarter. Enter from the side street off Honmachi…
Naoshima
One of the sites in the Art House Project collection, this is Hiroshi Sugimoto's play on the traditional Go'o Shrine, with a glass staircase and a very…
Miyajima
Momiji means 'maple', and their leaves come alive during autumn in this pretty park along the river.
