Onomichi City Museum of Art: Art, Views and Persistent Cats

Onomichi is a port town of temple trails and steep lanes tumbling down to the Seto Inland Sea, and its city art museum enjoys the best seat in the house, up in Senkoji Park with the islands of the Shimanami Kaido spread out below. The museum pairs a municipal collection with a steady program of visiting exhibitions, and it occupies a building elegantly renewed by the architect Tadao Ando, all clean lines and considered light.

Inside the galleries

Exhibitions change through the year, ranging from local painters who worked these hillsides to big touring shows, so check what is on for your dates. The scale is friendly rather than exhausting, an hour or so of unhurried viewing, and the hilltop setting means you step out of the galleries straight into one of western Japan’s better views.

About those cats

The museum became unexpectedly world famous thanks to a pair of local cats who spent years politely attempting to walk in the front door, only to be turned away, gently and repeatedly, by security staff. The standoff charmed the internet, and Onomichi, a town already famous for its cats, leaned in. Keep an eye on the entrance; the tradition has a way of continuing.

Getting there

Onomichi Station is on the JR Sanyo Line, an easy ride from Fukuyama, where the shinkansen stops, or a longer coastal run from Hiroshima. From the station area, ride the Senkoji Ropeway up the hill and the museum is a short walk through the park; you can then wander down via the temple steps and the Path of Literature, which is the best way to meet the town’s lanes, shrines and resident cats on the way back to sea level.

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