Tomo, a port town, lies in the suburbs of Fukuyama City. It flourished as a base of sea traffic in olden times but didn't develop any further because of its location out of the railway route. The town was not exposed to the destruction of WWII and the historical neighborhood has remained to this day.

The port of Tomo, well retaining its original features from the Edo period, is one of the largest in scale among the existing Japanese ports developed in the Edo period. Gangi, a stair-like quay, and a beacon stone lantern being intact. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the old port facilities are still in use and alive. Boats sail out and in and fishermen work at the port.

Two of the essentials for water front landscaping are to respect human scale and preserve its original function of conducting sea-related jobs. Lots of water-front development projects failed because they ignored these two. Urban designers should learn from observing historical and working ports like Tomo.

Another landscape Tomo has to be proud of is its scenic beauty formed by the Benten-jima and Sensui-jima islands. Framed by the windows of Taicho-ro standing on a small hill and once used as a guest house for the Korean envoys, it looks like a beautiful painting (photo #4). The Koreans who stayed at Taicho-ro on their way to Edo, or present-day Tokyo, were enchanted by the scenery and said, "This is the most beautiful scenery in Japan."

Tomo's significance lies in its water front but the quality of architecture found there is also noteworthy. The Ota residence, which once belonged to a wealthy merchant family, is interesting to see. Some other buildings are open to the public or remodeled into stores and tourists can visit them easily.

Tomo retains narrow streets from pre-modern days and they are not suitable for driving along. The local administrative authority insists that reclaiming part of the bay and building a bridge across it is the only way to preserve old architecture in Tomo. However, the valuable port landscape would be lost that way. Researchers opposed this assertion and a protest campaign erupted. Argument has been going on for as long as 20 years. The residents have conflicting ideas but the authority is pushing for the plan. In near future Tomo's historical landscape could be gone. This might be strange from world standard but top priority is unfortunately put on road traffic in Japan.

It's not a major tourist destination and usually it's nice and quiet with a relatively small number of visitors except around the Girls' Festival on March 3, when the streets are adorned with traditional dolls. Travelers who are tired of too much sophistication like Kyoto will appreciate Tomo.

BUS: Take a bus bound for Tomo Port at JR Fukuyama Station. Get off at Tomo-no-ura () or Tomo Port (). About 30 minutes from the Station. English signs are scarcely found. Be sure to remember the Kanji and take a right bus.