"Hagi - a step back in time" Hagi by tabibito-x

Visitors to Japan usually stick to the Eastern coastline with its famous places Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Himeji and so on. The East coast is heavily industrialised, but not the West coast.

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Hagi is near the Western tip of Honshu, in the North of Yamaguchi pref. The centre is surrounded by water with the Japanese Sea in the North. Nowadays, Hagi has less then 50,000 inhabitants.

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To cut it short - I've been to many places in Japan, but Hagi is my favourite. Although Hagi played an important role in modernization of feudal Japan, it managed to keep its feudal character. Virtually the entire city center is a large and unique window to old Japan as you won't find it along the East coast.

Hagi has been the resince of the Mori-Clan, which moved here in 1603 from Hiroshima (in other words the Mori's had been banned due to a lack of support of Tokugawa Ieyasu). Soon the castle had been constructed, but unfortunately only the walls survived. Still the setting of the castle ruins with the Sea and Mt. Shizuki in the back is lovely.

Hagi is also famed for it's fine pottery - loads of craftsmen produce pottery in and around Hagi. It doesn't take much knowledge of pottery to understand which one is from Hagi - it has small crackles and a specific color. Pottery products can be purchased directly from the craftsmen or in several shops, esp. near the castle ruin. Prices start at around 2,000 Yen

• Pros:A great place to get a glimpse of Old Japan
• Cons:It takes time to get there and there is not much accomodation
• In a nutshell:Forget the big cities - go to Hagi!