Fukuyama

Fukuyama is a mid-sized industrial city on the Seto Inland Sea coast of Hiroshima Prefecture, and most travelers meet it from a shinkansen window: the rebuilt keep of Fukuyama Castle stands directly beside the station platform. The city calls itself Japan's city of roses, a symbol of its postwar recovery.

The castle museum covers the clans who guarded this stretch of the Sanyo corridor. The real prize is Tomonoura, a port town south of the city, where a stone lantern and Edo-period merchant houses ring a small harbor that once timed the tides for sailing ships.

Gardens across town peak for the rose festival each May. From Tomonoura's quay, ferries cross to the quiet beaches of Sensuijima, and the local sea bream dishes have fed travelers for centuries. Fukuyama works best as a half-day castle stop plus a slow afternoon by the old harbor.