If you want to see the Seto inland sea one option is to take one of the many ferries. We had a one day trip were we took a ferry from Kure to Matsuyama and a ferry back to Hiroshima in the evening.
Around noon we took a fast ferry from Kure to Matsuyama and it took only 1 hour of sailing. The disadvantage with the fast ferries is that you can’t go outside to take pictures and the ride can be a little bumpy.
We went to see the Matsuyama castle and it was very easy to get transportation from the harbor because a bus waited for the passengers.
On the way back we took the car ferry back to Hiroshima and this lasted almost 3 hours. Unfortunately the sun was setting before we left port, so we managed to see and photograph very little. It was a quiet and comfortable sailing trip. There were only few passengers and the crew members were relaxed and very nice (but non spoke English). We met a Japanese Family, and their daughter of around 4 years played with and entertained our little son. We were very thankful of this experience, though we didn’t share a common language.
The video contains stills and HD video.
AloJapan.com