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Omi-Hachiman

Sister-city exchange students cancel/postpone trips

May 16th, 2009
by philbert.
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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. 2009.

Earlier, eight junior high school students from Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA postponed their trip to Omi-Hachiman scheduled for May 8-16, 2009. Due to fears of swine flu, the Grand Rapids people decided to postpone the homestay trip. As part of their sister-city relationship, Grand Rapids and Omi-Hachiman have been sending students to each other for homestay visits.

It is very unfortunate these trips had to be canceled. I’m sure the students are all very disappointed. Taking overseas trips during the formative years of high school brings much mutual unerstanding and experiences, besides lasting memories. Hope they will somehow eventually make the trip somehow, someday soon.

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Omi-Hachiman and Azuchi aiming to merge

Apr 15th, 2009
by philbert.
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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, a citizens group in Azuchi gathered 4,000 signatures and submitted a petition to the Azuchi Town Council to require a referendum to be held to vote on the issue. Unfortunately, the bill to hold a referendum was rejected by the town council who took a vote on the issue on April 14, 2009. The town council apparently wants the merger to go through despite the residents’ opposition.

Such a merger was attempted four years ago, but a referendum in Azuchi rejected it. One problem is that Omi-Hachiman is in deep debt and no one really wants to merge with that city. Interesting that neighboring Ryuo town is not even close to merging with Omi-Hachiman even though the town is part of Omi-Hachiman’s area.

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Kyorinbo in Japan Times

Feb 16th, 2009
by philbert.
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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

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Vories in Japan Times

Mar 5th, 2008
by philbert.
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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, and today only about 100 remain. Omi-Hachiman has 28 buildings designed by Vories.

I look forward to seeing the inside of the Toyosato Primary School when they open it to the public someday.

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Omi-Hachiman mayor Fujitani Eisho caught speeding

Feb 10th, 2008
by philbert.
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On Feb. 6, 2008, Omi-Hachiman mayor Fujitani Eisho was caught speeding by police while driving a car in Yasu. He was driving 23 kph over the speed limit. He paid a fine of 15,000 yen.

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English Web page for Azuchi town

Sep 12th, 2007
by philbert.
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I’ve created an English page about Azuchi-cho here: 
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Azuchi-cho%2C_Shiga

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Omi-Hachiman Sagicho Matsuri

Mar 22nd, 2007
by philbert.
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Sagicho

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 cold on both days, and Himure Hachimangu was very dusty. But it was also very sunny and a great weekend to take pictures. It seems to be a very local festival, which means there are not so many tourists. There were very few foreigners.

On Sun. night, it was very cold waiting until 8 pm when they started to burn the floats. The whole area in front of the shrine (and Taneya), which is usually a parking lot, was the main festival site. If you have never seen this festival, I highly recommend it. There’s another fire festival in Hachiman next month as well.

Pictures taken on Sat.:
http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=150

YouTube videos:

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Azuchi’s English Web site

Oct 10th, 2006
by philbert.
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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 to see there, besides Azuchi Castle ruins. Lots of water and canals. The Nobunaga Matsuri in spring was also enjoyable. For a local town festival, it was a grand event with a daimyo gyoretsu, matchlock gun firing, and boat rides in the moat.

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