I LOVE Tokyo. I really do. I’m 100% a city guy. I love the fact there’s so much amazing architecture there (that makes me feel like I’m in Ghost In The Shell), there’s always so much to do (I fear I’ll never see all of it), and it’s just SO easy to get around.
That being said, it can be quite overstimulating and sometimes you just need to slow down. Sure, you could head out to Kamakura or Hakone for a much slower pace, but I’ve found the spot that probably beats all of them out in Onomichi.
Situated halfway between Okayama and Hiroshima, I first discovered this city back in 2018 when myself and a couple of friends did a cross country trip. We wanted to find fun things to do that were a little different so we decided to ride the Shimanami Kaido (I’d read that the original Cycle Route from Pokemon Red and Blue was based upon this route but I think I might have just tricked myself into believing this). However, as we stayed at an AirBnb on the first island on this route (Mukaishima), we totally messed this up and didn’t manage to do any of the route whatsoever.
Luckily for me, this turned out to be the best long term decision I think I’ve ever made. The host of that AirBnb, Yuji, very quickly became a good friend of mine, and every year he asked me to come back and visit. 2019’s trip was up to Sapporo and back, and then we had a bit of a worldwide event that stopped me visiting Japan for the next 5 years.
2024 would be the first time I was able to take him up on this offer and I’m so glad I did. If you’re looking for a much more laid back city, still brimming with things to do then I fully recommend Onomichi.
Getting Here
The Shinkansen or Bullet train is the obvious way to get to Onomichi from Tokyo, however only the Kodama and the Hikari stop at Shin-Onomichi Station so your options are either to wait for one of those trains and then get the bus south to Onomichi, or get off at Fukuyama and take the local Mihara line to the last stop. Either route is pretty scenic so it’s up to you! If you have the JR Pass though, I’d use the latter option just to get the most out of the ticket.
Things To Do
For such a small city (it’s about 7 times smaller than Tokyo), there’s a surprising amount of things to do! As mentioned above, the big draw is the Shimanami Kaido cycle route, which traverses the Seto Inland Sea over 6 unique islands. It’s super easy to navigate (just follow the blue line), and you can rent the bikes in Onomichi and drop them off at the final point in Imabari. It’s a pretty long ride so it can be done in a single day but the locals recommend doing it over 2 and staying a night half way down (well played for their tourism stats).