Updated: April 25, 2024 Hikone Castle Museum exhibits the Hikone Byobu folding screen (彦根屏風), a National Treasure, every spring usually for a month from…
April is a great month. Soon after the onslaught of cherry blossoms, we have an onslaught of festivals (matsuri). This is the time…
Updated: July 14, 2023 Hikone’s nationally famous official mascot, Hiko-nyan (ひこにゃん) (also spelled Hikonyan ひこんやん), is a white beckoning cat (maneki-neko) wearing a…
Updated: March 27, 2023 Here are my favorite cherry blossoms (called sakura in Japanese) in Shiga. They bloom in April, starting with southern Shiga…
Kongorinji temple (金剛輪寺), one of the Koto Sanzan temple trio of Tendai Buddhist temples (National Treasures) in Aisho, eastern Shiga, lost its precious…
I finally visited the Koka Ninja House 甲賀流忍術屋敷 in Koka. I highly recommend taking your foreign friends here. Most foreigners are very interested…
On June 5, 2008, the Ministry of the Environment announced Japan’s 100 Best Spring Waters of the Heisei Era (平成の名水百選) and four of…