Travel Guide Matsue

This city, with a population of more than 200,000, is more than 500 miles from Tōkyō. Matsue is located between the lagoons of Naka Umi and Shinji ko, connected by the Ohashigawa River. The castle of this feudal town, inducted as a national treasure, stands north of the river entrance in Shinji-ko lagoon. Shiomi Nawate Street, with its samurai houses, which runs along the moat beside the castle, is also one of the town's special features. It is the best preserved in Matsue and is a window into the city as it was in the Edo period, a powerful "jōkamachi". Matsue is also known for being the city where Lafcadio Hearn lived. A singular character, the son of a Greek mother and an Irish father, he lived in Matsue for two years, where he was an English teacher. He married a Japanese woman, Setsuko Koizumi, daughter of a local samurai. Later he was invited to teach in Tōkyō at Waseda University with Chamberlain's support. He then wrote a number of books on Japan, some of which became famous.