Category: Omi-Hachiman

Vories in Japan Times

Omi-Hachiman, Shiga/Omi Brand

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. *Update: Toyosato Primary School opened to the public in May 2009.

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Omi-Hachiman Sagicho Matsuri

Festivals in Spring, Omi-Hachiman

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

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Azuchi’s English Web site

Omi-Hachiman

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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