Hino-cho will hold the Hino Matsuri on May 3. It is a parade of beautiful Hikiyama floats. I went last year and was very impressed. I will miss it this year.

I heard that each Hikiyama float storehouse 曳山の山蔵 in Hino now has a sign with an English explanation. The person who wrote the English is a native speaker of English living in Hino-cho. His name is Austin and he recently sent me email and told me about it.

Last year, the Shimizu-cho float was the only float with an English explanation. I was very surprised to see it. Austin was a member of that float and wrote the English. He later received requests to write English explanations for all of the other floats too! Those English explanations are now displayed at each yamagura. There are 15 of them. Each float has an interesting history.

You see how even one person can make a big difference? Yes, even the local tourist association cannot (or does not) do such things. But Hino does have an English sightseeing guide online.

If you’re in Hino, check out the yamagura and read the English sign. Better to see the festival. I highly recommend it. If you’ve never visited Hino, it’s a very nice town to visit. People are friendly at the Hino-cho mixi community too. Google Map
https://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=324
http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~hino-to/005.html