Some of you in Korea may have heard of Saga Prefecture in Kyushu, but I doubt many know where the similarly named Shiga Prefecture is. Shiga is right next door to Kyoto. I have been to Kyoto many times, yet it never occurred to me to go to Shiga; while planning this trip, though, I could not leave out Lake Biwa, said to be the largest lake in Japan, and the Mt. Hiei drive.

The Vege Gyudon at Yoshinoya, where we stopped on the way

Yoshinoya now has a Vege Gyudon that supposedly contains half of your daily vegetable intake. They used to be pretty passive about developing new menu items, but that seems to have changed a lot lately. It tasted good, and I somehow felt healthier for it.

The world’s first drip coffee vending machine

I found this at a rest stop on the way to Lake Biwa: you can get drip coffee from a vending machine. Put in your coins and the monitor in the middle shows the coffee actually being dripped. Great idea; I wonder if it will ever make it to Korea?

Crossing the Biwako Ohashi Bridge

There is a huge toll road that cuts right across Lake Biwa. The Mt. Hiei drive starts right after you cross it, so there was no way not to cross. This is the kind of place you should come to on a clear day, but it was raining.

A Tobita-kun (tobidashi-boya) sign I found after getting lost along the way

It means do not run out into the alley, and it was just too cute.

Back to the drive…

We wound our way through the back streets and got onto the drive. With the sky so dark, the photos taken from the car came out badly shaken.

Climbing a steep mountain road.

You have to climb for quite a while before you get any view.

The observation deck

Lake Biwa is faintly visible in the distance. It is enormous, but the photo just does not convey it. I will have to come back again.

A shot of the lake

We had come all this way on purpose, so it was quite a letdown. Next time I go to Kyoto I would like to rent a car and stop by Lake Biwa once more.

The entrance to Mt. Hiei Enryakuji, a World Cultural Heritage site

There are temples all over the mountain, at least a few dozen it seemed. This is the entrance to Enryakuji, the largest of them. There was an international trail running race that day, so there were quite a lot of people.

Deep in the mountains.

Building a temple this big deep in the mountains like this is really something.

So there was an event like this.

It looked like an international race run along the mountain trails.

Inside the grounds

Even up in the mountains, the trees and moss were incredibly well kept. It had a Kyoto-like atmosphere too.

The stairs going down

It feels larger in scale than the temples in Kyoto.

Konpon Chudo

Worshippers can go inside, but it was late and the doors were closed.

Stairs

How beautiful it must be in autumn. I could picture the scenery without even seeing it.

Moss

You can feel a thousand years of history, I suppose you could say.

The road down into Kyoto city

Just twenty-odd kilometers and you are right in Kyoto city. The road is narrow, but it was perfectly drivable.

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