I moved to Otsu city in 2007 and just now realized I haven’t written a blog about it. Otsu city is the capital of Shiga prefecture, which is located pretty much dead centre on Honshu (the main island of the Japanese archipelago). Though bordering Kyoto city, Otsu has a completely different atmosphere and it’s own very unique qualities. The first thing most people talk about is the lake, Lake Biwa, biggest in Japan. Otsu city’s coastline follows approximately a quarter of the lake, about 50km of the western shoreline falls within Otsu city, plus a few kilometres on the south-east corner. To the west are some smaller mountains which grow into the Hira mountain range, which creates the natural border between Shiga prefecture and Kyoto prefecture. The result is a long, narrow city, squished between the mountains to the west and the lake to the east. I believe these geographical features make Otsu citizens want to get oudoors and enjoy the natural beauty of the area. Some of the most popular sports here are cycling, hiking, fishing, yachting, bird-watching, and camping. Any day of the year, if you go down to the lakeside you will see many or (more commonly) all of these activities taking place around you. The photo on the left was taken from the 30th floor of the Prince Hotel, the lone lakeside tower in Otsu, standing an impressive 35 floors, top to bottom glass! This photo shows Otsu city’s core areas: Zeze, Ishiyama and Seta. On the left we can see the southern-tip of Lake Biwa, as it funnels down to become the Seta river, which flows all the way to the Pacific ocean via the Osaka basin. On the right is the core of the city, straight ahead and down we can see part of Nagisa park, which is a lakeside park running about 10 kilometres from Ishiyama to Hamaotsu. This is one of the best places for the outdoors activities I mentioned above. We can also see Ohmi Bridge and Zeze Castle Park (the castle was destroyed long ago). Such a great place for living and being active. I love the city I live in!
Edward, Smith’s School of English Otsu
Leave a Reply