Here’s the fireworks (hanabi) schedule for Shiga Prefecture in summer 2010 listed by date: July 17, 2010 Echigawa Gion Noryo Hanabi Taikai in Aisho, 7:30 pm – 9:20 pm Along the Echigawa River bank near Miyukibashi Bridge. If rained out, to be postponed to July 18. 愛知川祇園納涼祭花火大会 More info: 愛荘町秦荘観光協会／愛荘町愛知川観光協会 TEL：0749-37-8051 http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~e-machi/new/hanabitaikai.html July 24, 2010 Kashiwabara-juku [...]
Posts under ‘Omi-Hachiman’
Omi-Hachiman and Azuchi merge
Omi-Hachiman and the town of Azuchi merged on March 21, 2010. It is now a new city of about 82,000 residents with the city’s name remaining the same. A mayoral election will be held on April 25 to elect the new city’s first mayor. Japan will no longer have a municipality named “Azuchi.” This name [...]
William Merrell Vories exhibition in Omi-Hachiman
The William Merrell Vories exhibition is being held in Omi-Hachiman until Nov. 3, 2009. For 1,000 yen, you can enter a few of the Vories-designed buildings in Omi-Hachiman normally closed to the public. It’s an on-your-own walking tour of Vories buildings starting at Hakuunkan, a Western-style (but not designed by Vories) building across the torii [...]
Movie: Katen no Shiro (火天の城)
Released in Japan on Sept. 12, 2009, this movie is about Okabe Mataemon, a Nagoya (Atsuta)-based master carpenter who in 1576 was ordered by Japan’s leading warlord Oda Nobunaga to build Azuchi Castle on Mt. Azuchi fronting Lake Biwa. The main castle tower or donjon was to have an unprecedented five stories. It was to [...]
Omi-Hachiman to remain “Omi-Hachiman” after merging with Azuchi
As reported earlier, Omi-Hachiman and neighboring Azuchi are planning to merge in March 2010. On May 22, 2009, the deliberation committee for the merger between the two municipalities held a vote to decide the new name of the city after merging. Two proposed names were up for voting: Omi-Hachiman (近江八幡) and Omi-Hachiman-Azuchi (近江八幡安土). It was a [...]
Sister-city exchange students cancel/postpone trips
Due to the spread of swine flu, the Shiga Prefectural Board of Education has decided to cancel all high school student exchange trips to sister cities in Michigan, USA. Some 20 students from Michigan were scheduled to visit Shiga next month for home-stay visits, and 20 students from Shiga were to visit Michigan in Sept. [...]
Omi-Hachiman and Azuchi aiming to merge
On March 26, 2009, Omi-Hachiman’s city council passed a bill to establish the Omi-Hachiman-Azuchi Municipal Merger Deliberation Council (近江八幡市・安土町合併協議会) on April 1 to aim for a municipal merger with neighboring Azuchi town. Azuchi also passed the same bill in their town council on March 25, 2009. They both aim to merge by March 2010. However, [...]
Kyorinbo in Japan Times
The Japan Times newspaper (Feb. 15, 2009) had a good article about Kyorinbo temple and how it was restored. This is one temple I still haven’t visited. Hope to go sometime this year. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fv20090215a1.html
Vories in Japan Times
The Japan Times printed a pretty interesting story about William Vories on Feb. 28, 2008: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fa20080228a1.html The writer says that his architectural designs were not original. They were taken from existing styles of architecture. Of course, they were Western-style, so in Japan, those buildings stood out. Vories designed 1,091 buildings in Japan and South Korea, [...]
English Web page for Azuchi town
I’ve created an English page about Azuchi-cho here: http://photoguide.jp/txt/Azuchi-cho%2C_Shiga
Sagicho Matsuri
I stayed in Shiga until last weekend and saw the Sagicho Matsuri on both Sat. and Sun. It was great! I was very impressed by the colorful Sagicho floats made of edible materials like soybeans, small fish, aoi-nori, and many other ingredients. They were all fantastic works of art. It was very windy and cold [...]
Omi-Hachiman Sagicho Matsuri
Last weekend during March 17-18, 2007 (Year of the Boar), I saw the Sagicho Festival in Omi-Hachiman, Shiga. It was great! I was very impressed by the colorful Sagicho floats made of edible materials like soybeans, small fish, aoi-nori, and many other ingredients. They were all fantastic works of art. It was very windy and [...]
Azuchi’s English Web site
I think Azuchi-cho is the town with the best official English pages in Shiga. http://www.town.azuchi.shiga.jp/en/ It’s not complete yet, but their introduction of sightseeing places is good. The English is good, the page design is attractive, and they also include the kanji characters and furigana for the temple names, etc. I like Azuchi-cho. Many sights [...]