Yanai is a small town in Yamaguchi Prefecture where a stone-paved street of whitewashed storehouses carries the whole visit. Paper goldfish lanterns hang under the eaves, red and white against the plaster, and at dusk they glow over the dark timber of the merchant houses. Nothing here demands a schedule. You walk the street, step inside a preserved house or two, look in on a soy sauce brewery, and sit down for lunch in a tea room before heading back.
The town works well as an easy day trip from Hiroshima or Iwakuni, and this guide gathers the practical details that make it happen: how long the ride takes, how far each place is on foot, what the houses charge, and when the kitchens are serving.
Getting to Yanai
Yanai is a stop on the JR Sanyo Line, and from Hiroshima the ride takes about eighty-five minutes. From Iwakuni the same line brings you in thirty-five minutes. From Tokuyama it is also thirty-five minutes. Those figures mean you can leave after breakfast and still have the full middle of the day in town.
| From | Journey |
|---|---|
| Hiroshima | about 85 minutes |
| Iwakuni | 35 minutes |
| Tokuyama | 35 minutes |
The town is compact enough that everything in this guide is done on foot, and you will not need to think about transport again until you leave.
The White-Walled Street
Once you are off the train at JR Yanai Station, the white-walled street is about a ten-minute walk away. Shirakabe no Machinami, the white-wall street, is paved with stone and lined with white-walled merchant houses and storehouses under tiled roofs, with small goldfish lanterns hanging beneath the eaves. By day the pale plaster and dark timber do the work. By dusk the lanterns glow red along the length of the street, and a hill closes the view at the far end.
The street itself asks nothing of you. Walk it once in each direction, slowly, and then step inside the houses and museums described below.
Goldfish Lanterns You Can Make Yourself
The goldfish lantern is the image that follows you around Yanai, and you can make one to take home. A medium lantern costs one thousand yen, and the small size is nine hundred yen. Reception runs from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, so treat it as a morning or early-afternoon activity rather than a late afterthought. If you would rather do something quieter with your hands, a Yanai-jima weaving session costs five hundred yen.
Muroya no Sono
Muroya no Sono is a two-storey white-walled merchant house that now works as a museum, with goldfish lanterns hung along its dark wooden lower wall. Admission is listed at six hundred yen for adults, four hundred and fifty yen for junior high and high school students, and four hundred yen for elementary school children. Its times are listed as nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, which makes it a natural first stop. From JR Yanai Station it is about a ten-minute walk.
Where to stay
Places to stay near Yanai, Yamaguchi, Japan →
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The Kunimori Family Residence
Here a white-plastered storehouse with a tiled roof stands behind a stone marker, and a row of red-and-white goldfish lanterns hangs under the dark timber eaves. During its public opening period the house is open from ten in the morning to half past four, with admission until four, so check that your date falls inside one of those periods before you build the day around it. It is about a ten-minute walk from JR Yanai Station.
The Townscape Museum
The Yanai Townscape Museum, which doubles as the Matsushima Utako Memorial Museum, is open from ten in the morning to five in the afternoon. It is about ten minutes on foot from JR Yanai Station, like the houses above, so it slots in wherever you have a gap. Treat it as the place to get your bearings before or after the street itself.
Kanro Shoyu at the Sagawa Brewery
The Sagawa soy sauce brewery runs a museum devoted to its Kanro shoyu. On weekdays it is open from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon. On weekends and public holidays the times shift to half past nine until half past four. It is about a fifteen-minute walk from JR Yanai Station, a little further than the rest, so it suits the end of a loop rather than the start.
Where to Eat
Sabo Nanba-an is a tea room where the lunch plate starts from nine hundred and fifty yen. It is open from eleven in the morning to five in the afternoon, with last orders at four. Shiki Shunsai Kuraya serves lunch from half past eleven to half past one, gives priority to reservations and prepares a limited number of servings, though seats are available on the day if any are free. Dinner at Kuraya runs from five to ten in the evening. Yamaguchi Yanai Shokudo is listed as open from seven in the morning until half past ten at night, which makes it the fallback for an early breakfast or a late meal.
Yanai at a Glance
The times and prices in this guide are the ones given in the town's official tourism listings, and they can change with the season, so check official information before visiting.
| Place | Times |
|---|---|
| Muroya no Sono | 9:00–17:00 |
| Kunimori family residence, public opening period | 10:00–16:30, admission until 16:00 |
| Yanai Townscape Museum | 10:00–17:00 |
| Goldfish lantern making, reception | 9:00–16:00 |
| Kanro Shoyu museum, weekdays | 8:00–17:00 |
| Kanro Shoyu museum, weekends and holidays | 9:30–16:30 |
| Sabo Nanba-an | 11:00–17:00, last order 16:00 |
| Shiki Shunsai Kuraya, lunch | 11:30–13:30 |
| Shiki Shunsai Kuraya, dinner | 17:00–22:00 |
| Yamaguchi Yanai Shokudo | 7:00–22:30 |
A Simple Order for the Day
From Iwakuni the ride is only thirty-five minutes, so there is no reason to start early. Begin at Muroya no Sono, the earliest of the houses to admit visitors, and walk the street while the light is flat. Make a lantern before the afternoon cut-off, then take a late lunch at Nanba-an. The Kunimori residence and the Townscape Museum are both about ten minutes on foot from JR Yanai Station, so the order you take them in hardly matters. Finish with the brewery, and walk back the way you came.
Staying the Night
If you would rather not rush back, Yanai is a pleasant base for a night, and there are places to stay in Yanai that put the white-walled street within reach at dusk, when the lanterns glow. With a second morning you could add Yamaguchi Flower Land, which is listed as open from nine to five with admission until half past four. Admission there is five hundred and ten yen for high school students and older and two hundred and fifty yen for elementary and junior high school students, and the garden guide is free.