Many Makino Metasequoias Morphing Majestically over the Months

We visit Makino Pic-Land, and its road lined with metasequoia, during two different seasons.

Travel Without Map or Water

We head out to the foot of the Suzuka mountains to enjoy nature and Shiga’s second-largest dam.

Tengu Very Much!

We visit Aga Shrine, where we make protection charms, get between a rock and a hard place, and win great views from climbing stairs!

Climb Every Mountain!

Our trip up Tachiki and Iwama mountains to visit the temples on top!

Ragtag Taga

We go deep into the mountains to explore a wind cave and then visit one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan.

Something Old and Something New

Castles! Cakes! Canals! We explore Omihachiman city, where we see the old, the new, and the old again.

Old Tokaido Road, Take Me Home! Pt. 2

Leaving the Seta River behind, we go to Kusatsu. The city is where the two great Edo-period highways, the Tokaido and Nakasendo, fused before continuing to Kyoto; Kusatsu-juku was the second-to-last stop on the road between the two capitals.

Old Tokaido Road, Take Me Home! Pt. 1

During the Edo period, two great highways linked the old capital, Kyoto, to the new one, Edo: the Tokaido and Nakasendo roads. They had to pass through Shiga to avoid mountains, following the south shore of Lake Biwa. You can still find remains of that time in Otsu and Kusatsu.

Honke Tsuruki Soba

What comes to mind when you think of Shiga Prefecture’s specialty products? Probably funazushi or fermented crucian carp, but there is also eel, Omi beef, and…soba noodles or ramen’s healthier cousin as I like to think of it. If you plan on traveling to Japan, you should know that there are three food noodle staples:…

Castle, Cat and Castaways

We visit Hikone, where we see Hikonyan and the castle, and then visit our last Biwa island: Takeshima!

Michigan Cruise ミシガンクルーズ

Enjoy a slice of classic Americana with a Japanese twist on the Michigan. ミシガンクルーズでは日本にいながら伝統的なアメリカ文化を楽しむことができます。 You might be confused as to why, of all things, a Huckleberry Finn-esque paddle steamer offers cruises on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. The answer is rather simple and heartwarming – it is a show of the sister state bonds that…

Semimaru Shrine 蝉丸神社

One goal of this series is not just to introduce the most popular and well-known tourism sites in Shiga, but also lesser known attractions. Otsu specifically is a very old city, and many of its shrines, temples, and roads have their own interesting story to tell. このシリーズの目的の一つは、滋賀県の最も有名かつ人気である観光地だけではなく、知名度の低い場所も紹介することです。大津市はことに古い都市で、数ある神社、お寺、道路などにそれぞれの歴史や逸話があります。 This time we visited Semimaru Jinja, a lesser…