[SHIGA] Beach Day at Lake Biwa

Looking at my prefecture map of Japan yet again, I noticed another prefecture in Kansai that hasn’t been visited yet. What’s a bit interesting about Shiga is that the entire prefecture is almost made up by a land area embracing Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, as if the prefecture’s sole purpose is to surround the lake on all sides. The lake is said to be 4 million years old and serves as the prefecture’s main tourist attraction. Lake, huh? Okay, we can beach there, after a good mix of mountain Buddhism, a castle, and deer. A big body of water should be the best way to wrap up our visit to Kansai. But where should we go?

The most obvious option at first was Otsu, which serves as the prefecture’s capital and largest city. It lies on the southern shores of the lake. There are other options and I believe I’ve read that there is a specific town or city with a castle, but then again we’ve already been to Himeji so seeing yet another castle would have been underwhelming, especially compared to Himeji’s. And so I searched for beaches and one name came up: Omi-maiko. A bit farther north on the western shores of the lake, the trip from Shinsaibashi is on the same train and I only had to add a few hundred yen and half an hour or so to the travel time.

The beach I ended up in was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting to be wowed at all because lakes tend to be serene, debatably boring, and just that. Omi-maiko was a very lively beach, though, with shores and waters that could rival any other beach on a coast flowing toward the sea. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but all I can say is that the place was teeming with activity and there is no doubt that it is a destination of choice for domestic tourists. But where did all the Brazilians come from, then? That’s another oddity I have noticed.

Anyway, first let’s have a review of how to get here. The railway line that stops at both Otsu and Omi-maiko runs all the way to Kyoto and Osaka in the south. This means that you will have no issues with flexibility, although trains appear to stop at Omi-maiko with only a few trips per hour. I paid JPY1,580 (~PHP620) per way and the trip from Shinsaibashi in Osaka took just an hour and 10 minutes. Once you arrive at Omi-maiko station, you just follow the crowd to the beach. If there is no crowd, it’s still easy to go to the beach since you will only have two choices as to where you will end up: mountain or lake.

It’s not that complicated because you will have a clear view of both mountain and lake when you get off the train and onto the platform. Once you exit the station, turn left and then right. You will see an intersection there and most of the cars will be headed to the lake. It’s a short walk from the station to the entrance. There is paid parking if you have a car. If not, head straight to the trees that are trying to hide the beach from your line of sight. You will see a lot of tents and people with grills. I also saw jet skis there which are probably for rent. And then again, the crowd is mostly Japanese and Brazilians. Why Brazilians?

I don’t suppose they are all on vacation here. It’s a really long plane ride from Brazil with multiple stops to get to Japan, you know. I suppose that they are immigrants, descendants of Japanese who emigrated to Brazil back in the day and decided to come back here. I believe most of the Brapanese are concentrated in Shizuoka, but it looks like Shiga also has a lot of them. I should’ve interviewed one to shed some light on the matter, too bad I forgot. As such, most of the warnings and info boards are in Japanese and Portuguese, sometimes in English too.

There are shops lining the dirt path where you can buy food and some supplies but not many of them were open when I was there. I suppose most families just bring their own provisions. There is no entrance fee for the beach but some of the facilities there like camping grounds and stuff have to be paid. I went on a Wednesday and there were a lot of people. I’m not quite sure whether this is the same case all year round or just because it’s summer. Because of the throngs of people, it was difficult to find a quiet spot, and since I wasn’t in the mood for a swim, I just took photos and videos before hopping on the train back to Osaka.

[SHIGA] Beach Day at Lake Biwa

[KANSAI] Budget and Itinerary (3)