Updated: Feb. 1, 2024 February 3 is the Setsubun Festival at many temples and shrines in Japan. It marks the beginning of spring (Feb. 4) according to the lunar calendar.… Read more
Updated: Dec. 23, 2020 For information about current snow conditions at Shiga Prefecture’s ski slopes, see Snow Japan’s useful Shiga Prefecture ski resort page in English. Shiga is hardly a place I… Read more
Updated: Feb. 27, 2014 After Japan’s biggest celebration called New Year’s, it’s back to work. But there’s still some fun left during this cold or freezing season. Here are some… Read more
On the third day of this new year, I drove up to northern Nagahama’s Kohoku-cho shore along the lakeside road. I went looking for migratory Tundra Swans (kohakucho コハクチョウ) on… Read more
Video link: http://youtu.be/A-m4MmvLVsg Today on Jan. 1, 2014, I visited Taga Taisha Shrine to photograph the crowds and film the sacred dances. It was my second time at Taga Taisha… Read more
Hina-matsuri dolls (雛祭りの雛人形) are being displayed at various locations in Shiga to celebrate Girl’s Day on March 3. On the weekend of Feb. 23-24, 2013, Gokasho in Higashi-Omi is having… 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
Video link: http://youtu.be/n-SfD9DFxOg This is my cutest video of Shiga so far. I have three Japanese kids from Shiga who appear as my English reporters in this video of Katsube Shrine… Read more