THE ISLANDS OF JAPAN

MATSUE IZUMO SHRINE MATSUE CASTLE SAMURAI QUARTERS

The Grand Shinto Shrine at Izumo was having a festival the day we docked in Matuse, so we spent the morning there, a couple of hours southeast of our port of call; after lunch we visited a smaurai mansion and the nearby home of Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first Westerners to write extensively about Japan in the late nineteenth century. Although he spent only a few years in Matsue, he has been claimed by the city as a "local hero / celebrity"; his home and the adjacent museum are one of the "must see" tourist stops as a result. The day ended with views of the city from the top of the local castle, itself one of the most photogenic in the country.

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