Concerning Restaurants & Hotels

Concerning Restaurants & Hotels

Western Honshu is one of the best regions to sample local Japanese seafood, with regional specialties from the Nihon-kai (Japan Sea) and Seto Nai-kai (Inland Sea). Oysters in Hiroshima, sea eel on Miyajima, and sashimi and sushi on the San-in coast are all superb. Matsue's location makes a variety of both freshwater and saltwater fish available. Most reasonably priced restaurants have a visual display of the menu in the window, if not on the menu pages. If you cannot order in Japanese and no English is spoken, after you secure a table lead the waiter to the window display and point. If you're adventurous, it is always fun to ask, "Osusumu?" which means, "What do you recommend?"

Accommodations cover a broad spectrum, from pensions and minshuku (private residences that rent rooms) to large, modern resort hotels that have little character but all the facilities of an international hotel. Large city and resort hotels have Western and Japanese restaurants. In summer or on holiday weekends hotel reservations are necessary.

Unless otherwise noted, rooms have private baths, air-conditioning, and basic TV service.