Onomichi

Onomichi is squeezed between a steep hill and a narrow channel, and the town runs up the slope in stairways rather than streets - cars cannot reach many houses and residents carry things up. Twenty-five temples are strung along the hillside on a marked walking route, and a ropeway climbs to Senkoji Park for the view over the channel and the islands. The narrowness gave it a literary reputation: the writer Fumiko Hayashi grew up here, Ozu filmed Tokyo Story here, and a path is signed with quotations set into stones. Cats are the local emblem and a lane of them is painted and modelled along one section. Onomichi is also the mainland end of the Shimanami Kaido, a cycle route of about seventy kilometres over six bridges to Shikoku, with a dedicated cycle path the whole way - one of the best long cycle routes in Japan and the reason many visitors come.

What you actually see

• A town of stairways - houses reached on foot up a slope, not by road.
• Twenty-five temples - strung along a marked hillside walking route.
• The Shimanami Kaido - a seventy-kilometre cycle route over six bridges to Shikoku.
• The literary path - stones set with quotations, and the film and writing connections.

When to go

March to November; spring and autumn for cycling. Two days.

Honest expectations

The town is steep and the stairways are hard going in heat or with luggage. Cycle hire on the Shimanami books out at weekends and in season. The ropeway queues. Many small shops close on weekdays.

Nearby

The Shimanami islands run south; Tomonoura is east near Fukuyama.