Arrival in Shiga Prefectore

kyoto central station

You can get a *cheap* flight from Shanghai to Osaka, Japan from Peach Airlines. We wanted to make a short side trip to Japan while we were in Mainland China visiting family and settled on Kyoto, the ancient capitol. Since Kyoto is a bustling modern city of 1.4 million, we decided to stay at an air bnb in the suburb of Otsu, about a 20 minute train ride from the center.  Nancy found us the perfect host, Huizen, who is from the mainland but has lived in Japan with her husband and daughter for many years. Our host was so much more than the nice traditional Japanese bedroom, she was our expert guide for the five days we spent in Japan. As a scholar of ancient Japanese culture, this was perfect for us--we always like to travel and access what a group cannot.

outside the local middle school 

There's a special place in my heart for any school anywhere, and I found the shoes left outside of the gymnasium during a basketball tournament adorable. Looking at the top right, one or two outliers...at the edge of the group and not so orderly as the rest! (that would be me, the clumsy guy).

view from Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake

strolling through the rice and vegetable fields

This section of Otsu is mainly newly developed homes, with some older, more established homes closer to the waterfront. There are community garden plots and rice fields...the rice is considered among Japan's best and was very very good. We brought back some tea which has rice mixed in, very very delicious.  We had found the perfect place to use as home base as we got ready to experience the culture, sights, and food of this part of Japan!