A white-walled street of goldfish lanterns
Yanai is a small old port town on the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan, where a stone-paved street of white-walled merchant houses from the Edo period is hung with lanterns shaped like red goldfish. Paint a lantern of your own, then look inside a merchant's house and a soy sauce brewery. It is under an hour and a half from Hiroshima on the JR Sanyo Line, so it fits a stay in Hiroshima better than a trip from Osaka.
A stone-paved street about 200 meters long, lined on both sides with white-walled merchant houses from the Edo period. Goldfish lanterns hang under the eaves all year; in summer there are many more, and they are lit at night. It is about 10 minutes on foot from JR Yanai Station.
An old storehouse where you can paint your own goldfish lantern, or weave Yanai-jima, the town's striped cotton cloth, on a loom. Workshop days vary and some need booking, so check ahead. It is closed on Tuesdays.
A soy sauce brewery more than 200 years old, with part of its storehouse open as a small museum of brewing tools. Buy a bottle of kanro shoyu, a rich, mellow soy sauce brewed twice, a method that began in Yanai. Entry is free.
A wealthy merchant's house that runs deep and narrow back from the street, with the main house, storehouses and the room where oil was once pressed. Walk through it to see how a merchant family lived and did business. It is closed on Wednesdays.
A bank building from 1907 with a scale model of the old town and a tourist information desk, a good first stop to pick up a map. Entry is free.