Through the clouds of steam rising from the hotel's hot spring, I can make out Jupiter — a tiny pinprick of light beaming over the twinkling black waters of the Seto Inland Sea. It's easy to see why this hotel is called Bella Vista. Tucked into the hills outside the historic town of Onomichi, in Hiroshima Prefecture, it commands sublime views of the Inland Sea's legend-filled labyrinth of misty islands. Meanwhile, in the onsen (hot spring), fresh sea breezes caress your skin as you boil yourself blissfully to a gooey jelly.
Tomorrow, my wife Angeles and I will be motoring across that sea, via the Shimanami Kaido, a spectacular 60-km road and bridge network connecting Japan's main island of Honshu to the fourth- largest island, Shikoku. The route will take us from Onomichi through six smaller islands, like stepping-stones across the Inland Sea, before arriving way down in the city of Imabari (Ehime Prefecture).
But for tonight, it's time for a close encounter with a Japanese delicacy — puffer fish, aka the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world. Happily, the hotel's Sadenn Garden restaurant specializes in Italian-Japanese fusion, and serves the deadly little devil cooked to harmless, and exquisite, perfection, on a bed of tagliarini and rapeseed flowers.