Western Honshu Restaurants

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). The oysters in Hiroshima, sea eel on Miyajima, and sashimi and sushi on the San-in coast are all superb. Matsue's location means that a variety of both freshwater and saltwater fish are available. Most reasonably priced restaurants have a visual display of the menu in the window, if not photos on the menu pages. If you cannot order in Japanese and no English is spoken, you can always lead the waiter to the window display and point. If you're adventurous, it is always fun to ask, "Osusume?" which means "(What do you) recommend?"