Matsue Castle area

Matsue's compact tourist heart, anchored by one of Japan's twelve original castle keeps and the Shiomi Nawate samurai-residence street that runs along the castle moat. Within a fifteen-minute walk are Meimei-an, the tea house built for Lord Fumai, the Tawara Kuniichi exhibit, and a cluster of long-running soba shops serving Izumo's three-tier wariko bowls. The Lake Shinji sunset is the area's evening anchor; most visitors group castle and museums in the morning, then drift toward the lake's western shore for the sundown.