Did you know that the Biwako Visitors Bureau publishes a Map of Shiga in English? Most likely not, as it is never displayed on any tourist pamphlet rack. You have to ask for it. But not only that, it’s normally available only at the tourist info office at Otsu Station. It’s not even distributed to other tourist info offices in other cities/towns in Shiga. I asked them why, but got no straight answer.

The latest edition is A4 size (folds out to A1 size) instead of the compact size of the previous edition (left in above photo). It has all the train lines/stations so it can be useful for first-time visitors. Unfortunately, the English is not so good, and it has not been improved at all from the previous edition(s).

One side of the sheet has the map in English, and the reverse side has listings of sightseeing attractions and hotels. I think the reverse side should have more detailed maps of the major cities. But instead we see embarrassingly short introductions of a woefully inadequate list of attractions  (see photo below). Lake Biwa is mentioned here and there (on the cover even), but not explained anywhere as an attraction. Chikubushima and Omi-Maiko are not even mentioned. The map is slanted toward Otsu and there are cities/towns which are not even mentioned (such as Takashima) in the attractions. No festivals either.

It seems that they are trying to have the Map of Shiga double as Shiga’s tourist pamphlet in English. This obviously won’t work since there’s simply not enough space for Shiga’s many attractions. They need to make a separate foreign-language pamphlet introducing Shiga’s tourist spots and improve the map to show our National Treasures and other important things that they have neglected to emphasize.

But why am I telling you this? I should be telling this to Biwako Visitors Bureau. Well, that’s what I’m doing right now on their Facebook page in Japanese.