I recently had the pleasure of visiting Ako, a small seaside city in the far western reaches of Hyogo Prefecture, just a short train ride away from Himeji.
As well as being a great place to relax and unwind on the beautiful shores of the Seto Inland Sea, it is also an area with a long history of salt-making among other things, and so is well worth a visit if you like a bit of history on your travels.
I wrote a number of articles about Ako here for Japan Travel, so feel free to check them out!
Tom Fay 