Sophia Freckmann (Shiga)
On a hot summer’s day at the end of May in my hometown of Prague, I received an email titled, “Welcome to Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture.” I opened the email excitedly and read its contents. If my face could turn into a question mark, it would have at that point—I immediately paid a visit to my good friend, Google. I would be lying if I said that the minimal amount of information online on what to expect from a place I would be living in didn’t worry me, but I knew that I would learn with time. Sounds familiar? Chances are, many of you posted to places apart from the familiar big cities didn’t
know what to expect initially as well. Similar to when traveling to a new place: even if you do your research, you are most often still surprised when you finally make it there. Just shy of two years later, I feel that my zero knowledge of Takashima City (高島市) has undoubtedly increased. One of the things we can do is share the knowledge about our new homes for others’ benefit. And, in light of recent events where teachers are advised not to travel abroad, it's perhaps even more of a reason to explore places in Japan! Here are a few reasons why I think you should visit Takashima.
Once called Omi Province, modern-day Shiga Prefecture held the capital of Japan, Otsu. The prefecture’s historic name still lingers as a reminder in town names as well as the prefecture’s own wagyu, Omi beef. Unlike the east side of Shiga Prefecture, with a 118
Shinkansen station at Maibara making it more quickly and easily accessible, the west side of Lake Biwa is significantly less developed. Less than an hour’s train ride on the local Kosei Line from Kyoto, Takashima is made up of small towns Omi-Takashima,
Adogawa, Kutsuki, Shin-asahi, Omi-Imazu and Makino. Takashima means ‘tall island’ and there is something poetically island-like about the place. To the east of the city sits the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa, which one could
