9 Best Sights in Western Honshu, Japan

Located outside of Matsue City in neighboring Yasugi, The Adachi Museum of Art is well worth the trip. The gardens around the museum are some of the most breathtaking in all of Japan. The path around the gardens reveals new delights around every corner. Adding to their beauty is the borrowed landscape backdrop of low hills and forests beyond. The museum interior has a large selection of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese masters as well as temporary exhibitions throughout the year. The museum runs free shuttle buses every 30 minutes from Yasugi Station which take 20 minutes. Yasugi Station is 27 minutes east of Matsue Station on the local train (¥420). Try to time your arrival close to the museum opening hour of 9 am to avoid group tours, which start arriving around 10:30.

The museum has a good collection of the author's manuscripts and other artifacts related to his life in Japan. One room also holds small rotating art and culture exhibitions related to Matsue. It's adjacent to Koizumi Yakumo Kyukyo, Hearn's former residence in Matsue. Two minutes from the Memorial Hall is the Hearn Kyukyo bus stop, where a bus goes back to the center of town and the station.

The celebrated writer's house has remained unchanged since he left Matsue in 1891. Born of an Irish father and a Greek mother, Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904) spent his early years in Europe and moved to the United States to become a journalist. In 1890 he traveled to Yokohama, Japan, and made his way to Matsue, where he began teaching. There he met and married a samurai's daughter named Setsu Koizumi. He later took posts in Kumamoto, Kobe, and Tokyo. Disdainful of the materialism of the West, he was destined to be a lifelong Japanophile and resident. He became a Japanese citizen, taking the name Yakumo Koizumi. His most famous works were Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894) and Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation (1904). The house's simple elegance makes it worth a quick stop even for those unfamiliar with Hearn.

When dusk rolls around, you'll want to position yourself well. You won't get a better sunset than the one seen every night over the town's lake. As locals do, you can watch it from Shinji-ko Ohashi, the town's westernmost bridge, but the best spot is south of the bridge, along the road, down near water level in Shirakata Koen, the narrow lakeside park just west of the NHK Building. This is a great place to kick back and enjoy some tasty local microbrews and sushi. A popular yuhi (sunset) spot is the patio of the Prefectural Art Museum, visible and adjacent to the park above.

Start a tour of Matsue at the enchanting and shadowy castle and walk in the castle park, Shiroyama Koen, under aromatic pines. Constructed of exactly such wood, the castle was completed in 1611. Not only did it survive the Meiji upheavals intact, but it was, amazingly, never ransacked during the civil war–type turbulence of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Perhaps it's the properties of the wood, or the angles, or the mysterious tricks of light and shadows, but this castle truly feels alive and is a must-see sight of the region.

Built by the daimyo of Izumo, Yoshiharu Horio, for protection, Matsue-jo's donjon (main tower), at 98 feet, is the second tallest among originals still standing in Japan. Crouching as it does below and behind the surrounding lofty pines, Matsue-jo is slightly spooky, even in daytime. This is a fabulously preserved walk-in time capsule, with six interior levels belied by a tricky facade that suggests only five. The lower floors display an appropriately macabre collection of samurai swords and armor. The long climb to the castle's uppermost floor is definitely worth it for the view encompasses the city, Lake Shinji, the Shimane Peninsula, and—if weather conditions permit—the distant mystical snowy peak of Daisen.

The castle and park are 2 km (1¼ miles) northwest from Matsue Station.

This garden is of the same scale, arrangement, and style of any traditional English garden. There's an outdoor rest area, fountain plaza, sunken garden, indoor garden, pergola, cloister courtyard, rose terrace, and laburnum arch. If you've covered everything else, try this place—it's quite stunning, and it was put together in only five years by a jovial English gardener named Keith Gott. The garden is on the lakeshore northwest of town, at Nishi-Hamasada. It's one stop (five minutes; get off at English Garden-mae Station) west of Matsue Shinji-ko Onsen Station by the Ichibata Railway, so it can be seen on the way to or from Izumo Taisha.

Situated right beside the moat of Matsue Castle, this small museum gives visitors a good overview of Matsue's 400-year history. In addition to a diorama of the old castle town and scenes of daily life (including models of typical Edo-era meals), the photographs of Matsue in the Meji-era offer a rare chance to see what a provincial capital in Japan looked like at the beginning of the 20th century. English audio guides are available free of charge. The adjoining café, Kissa Kiharu, offers workshops such as making Japanese confectionery or incense among other traditional crafts. It is also a good place to relax and have coffee while looking out over the museum's Japanese garden.

Built in 1779, this is one of Japan's best-preserved tea houses. Located next to the former samurai residence, the teahouse offers views of Matsue Castle and for a small fee you can have a cup of green tea and locally made sweets. To get here, leave Shiroyama Koen, the castle park, at its East Exit and follow the moat going north; at the top of the park a road leads to the right, northwest of the castle. The teahouse is a short climb up this road. Before you enter, turn around for one of the best views of Matsue's hilltop castle.

Built in 1730, this house belonged to the well-to-do Shiomi family, chief retainers to the daimyo. Note the separate servant quarters, a shed for the palanquin, and slats in the walls to allow cooling breezes to flow through the rooms. A few rooms have somewhat kitschy dioramas recreating scenes from household life, but they do give an idea of how Matsue samurai lived in the late Edo period. Buke Yashiki is on the main road at the base of the side street on which Meimei-an Teahouse is located (keep the castle moat on your left).