Shiga sakura

Posted by Luna (Osaka, Japan) on 12 April 2008 in Lifestyle & Culture.

I'm still so exhausted, what a busy first week of school it's been..

Yesterday I took the JR to Shiga Prefecture (Shiga-ken), the northeastern most prefecture of the Kansai region. There I visited Hikone, famous for Hikone-jo (Hikone Castle) that's one of the oldest original-constructed castles in Japan!

Since the cherry blossom season is beginning to end in Osaka-fu, and petals begin to float away - up in northeast Kansai, the cherry blossoms are still going strong! I was absolutely ecstatic to encounter sakura again full fold.

Being so near Lake Biwa, Hikone also is surrounded by quite the scenery - mountains, the largest lake in Japan, and a castle! Amazing, eh? And top that off with tons of cherry blossoms everywhere and you've got quite the nice holiday spot!

There weren't a lot of people visiting for hanami either, which made the visit a lot more pleasant than the crowded areas of Kyoto and Osaka. It was so nice to stroll along, and the weather wasn't too hot nor too cold either (but very windy and cloudy).

All in all, Hikone's a nice little city that's worth a visit if you're ever in Shiga-ken.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikone

snippet about this photoblog

This photoblog is mostly to cover my experiences and adventures on the JET Programme as an Osaka City ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) through photographs, from beginning to end. Check out the "about" section on the bottom of this page to find out more.

For my written blog, check out: http://little-chotto.blogspot.com

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