Japan: Tomonoura

Tomonoura (鞆の浦) is a small fishing village famous as the location for several films: notably Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ), Wolverine and _Detective Mitarai’s Casebook: The Clockwork Current _(探偵ミタライの事件簿 星籠の海).

Tomonoura is a very pretty fishing village set against a circular quay – almost like a mini version of Sydney. The visitors centre had lots of information on where the Ponyo and Wolverine filming locations were, but we were able to only visit a few of them as some require a car to access.

Still, we spent a happy two hours exploring the port. There’s a beautiful view of the harbour from the top of the temple and we also saw some stray cats. The streets in town are extremely narrow and can barely fit a bike let alone a car.

We tools photos of the famous lighthouse as featured in the Mitarai movie and there’s even a cardboard cutout of Hiroshi (I shall forever remember him as “Chiaki-Sama” from Nodame Cantabile) next to the lighthouse.