Nagahama

On 3/19, we hopped a few trains and a little more than an hour and 1,000 yen later we were in Nagahama, or long beach, visiting some friends from Colorado.  The town is on the coast of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan.  It was a cloudy day, so unfortunately I didn't get the most wonderful pictures, but it was incredibly warm.  We picnicked by the lake (below is one of my guerrilla pictures of the group), and then enjoyed a long walk along the side of the lake until we decided to stroll through the historic district.  

From R-L: Matt, Nik, Krista, Alan.

Krista is one of Matt's former CU Japanese students, and Alan is her husband.  They are all sorts of awesome.



I did not get to go into Nagayama castle (eh, who cares) but I did get a picture.  Every town in Japan has a castle, I think.  Alan did tell me about a castle nearby, Hikone, that is an original like Inuyama, so perhaps we'll visit that at some point.  The gardens and park surrounding the castle were very interesting: to the right is an example of how the Japanese like to sculpt their trees and bushes.  Also, for no apparent reason, there were monkeys in a cage.  No picture of that because it was depressing.



Downtown Nagahama was very interesting and old-fashioned.  To the left, you can see a stained-glass street lamp.  Nagahama is famous for its glasswork, which is displayed all over town in sculptures, lights, and the like.  Hundreds of meibutsu stores line the streets, filled with glass jewelry, decorations, dishes, sculptures, etc.  

This is the local temple.  I do not know its name, but the a lovely plum blossom tree in front made it very picturesque.  People were taking off their shoes and going inside the main room, making this the first temple I've been to that allowed people into the main room.  Usually there's a large barrier that you throw money into and pray in front of, but you can't cross.
  

We passed through a flea market area, pictured to the right.  It was full of old things, most very cheap in cost and also value.  Unfortunately most offerings were very western, so I didn't find any amazing Japanese souvenirs.  Our main destination was a giant kaleidescope that you can stand under and turn the wheel to see different kaleidescope patterns and colors above you.  It's the smaller structure in the top right of the frame beside the tall wooden thing.  You can just make out the rotating wheel with glass pieces.  We stood under the wheel, oohed at the glass, and then a man came up to us.  After a short introduction, he motioned us to a photo booth where we could get our picture taken through a giant kaleidescope.  The five of us each got our own picture and then group pictures... unfortunately they wouldn't allow all five of us to pile in at the same time.  The Japanese are often more appropriate with space boundaries than I tend to be, but we didn't make trouble.  We just laughed at our pictures in the end.  Below is ours.  It's super awesome.