After the busyness of the build up to Christmas and all of the things that went on, we finally got the chance to have a day off and go out into Shiga for a bit of an adventure. Since I have an interest in Japanese castles, we decided to go to Hikone to see Hikone-jo (Hikone Castle) which is rated as the third best original wooden castle after Himeji and Matsumoto. The Castle itself is rather small, but the architecture is very beautiful and unique. The views across Lake Biwa from the top floor windows are fantastic. Next door to the castle is Genkyu-en a traditional Japanese Garden which is worth seeing if you visit the castle.
The biggest surprise was what we found in the outer moats of the castle, a pair of Black Swans. Since Black Swans are native to Australia (although now common in New Zealand as well), normally Japanese swans are white. Black Swans are also the symbol of my home city Perth in Western Australia. From what I've found on the net, the swans were a friendship gift from the city of Mitto in Ibaraki prefecture, I'm not sure if they originally came from somewhere in Australia or they were born in Japan. They were however coping better with the cold 3C temperatures on that morning than us!
After Castle and the Garden we spent some time looking around the city, which is the second biggest in Shiga Prefecture. We ate a delicious lunch of Omi-Gyu (Shiga Beef), then headed back to the train station stopping at a large cafe near the station for coffee and cakes, before making the one hour trip back to Nagaokakyo.

Click here to purchase prints, gifts or stock of the castle photo
Click here to purchase prints, gifts or stock of the swans photo