Akashi

This comfy bar is hidden in the middle of Akashi's comparatively large hostess bar district, on the ground floor of a nondescript white tiled building. The owner David is of a rare breed, an Irish bar owner who is actually from Ireland. The bar is a labour of love, the decorations growing and changing constantly. David's right-hand man, manager 'Rodem', knows far too much about Scotch and other whiskey. A real cosy place for Guinness on tap and a good chat. The sofas fill up quickly, and are a good place to hole up and watch the night unfold.

Ocean-view hostel facing Tosetouchi Bay. The owner is an esthetitian, so you can have aromatic healing therapy and friendly staff, and a lovely dog will be waiting for you. Facilities: rooms with air-conditioning, TV, Wi-Fi, internet, coffee, tea, shampoo, rinse, soap, Japanese sake cellar tour, organic farm tour, macrobiotic cooking, candle yoga, beach BBQ, jetski, windsurfing booking.

Huge seafood market retailing everything that swims, creeps, crawls or just sits on the sea bottom. Unlike Tokyo's Tsukiji, this is actively tourist-friendly, with lots of prepared produce for souvenirs and restaurants for eating the stuff. On the road between station and port.

While nothing like Osaka, if you're looking for a department store to get some retail therapy there are a few options within Akashi. Tarumi is famous for some of its department stores and right infront of Ookubo Station is a huge department store that goes for 3 blocks. Ookubo's also houses a huge food court as well as a cinema if you're looking to catch a movie.