Updated: Aug. 2, 2025 April is a great month. Soon after the onslaught of cherry blossoms, we have an onslaught of festivals (matsuri). This is the time to go out… Read more
Starting on April 1, 2013, over 70 percent of supermarkets in Shiga Prefecture will charge 5 yen for a plastic shopping bag. Some 150 supermarkets in Shiga, including 71 Heiwado… Read more
Updated: March 27, 2023 Here are my favorite cherry blossoms (called sakura in Japanese) in Shiga. They bloom in April, starting with southern Shiga (Otsu, etc.) and followed by northern Shiga… Read more
NHK TV news in Otsu reported an interesting bit of news on Feb. 26, 2013 about the governor of Kyoto stating that he was in favor of merging Kyoto and… Read more
Updated: Jan. 4, 2017 Plum blossoms, called ume (梅) in Japanese, have absolutely the sweetest and most pacifying fragrance of all the flowers in Japan. Whenever you see plum blossoms, put… Read more
Went to see sumo on January 25, 2013, the 13th day of the New Year’s sumo tournament at the Kokugikan sumo arena in Tokyo. I finally saw Nionoumi (鳰の湖), Shiga’s only… Read more
This is an island in the Seto Inland Sea in Yamaguchi Prefecture. When seeing this kanji name (大津島), those of us in Shiga cannot help but to call this island “Otsushima.”… Read more
What seemed to be totally out of the blue, our Shiga Governor Yukiko Kada has formed a new political party called Nippon Mirai no To (日本未来の党) which means “Party for Japan’s… Read more