Otsu

The MIHO Art Museum was fantastic, the tour guide was very friendly, and it was a very enjoyable day trip.

Lake Biwa is beautiful, but the round-trip cable car ticket to the observation deck costs ¥5000 😱 It was surprisingly cold on the mountain even in summer, and very windy… Since the round trip from Osaka took almost 6 hours, it was a bit of a shame that we didn't have enough time for each attraction. Our guide, Effy, was very dedicated, explaining the sights in Chinese, English, and Japanese!

My son and I went on Sunday, August 2nd, around 11am. We paid the 2000 yen parking fee and parked our car in parking lot number 9, which is quite a bit downhill. A shuttle bus came right away, and we were at the ropeway entrance in about 3 minutes. For a Sunday during summer vacation, the line wasn't too long. We had purchased our ropeway tickets in advance, so we went straight to the boarding gate. We were told it was the next ropeway right in front of us, but apparently there was an extra service today, so we only had to wait about 5 minutes. Normally, there's one every 15 minutes. The mountaintop was unbelievably cool, which was amazing. It was 37 degrees Celsius on the ground, but only about 28 degrees up there. The sun was strong, so be sure to apply plenty of sunscreen. The food was a bit pricey, but there was no line at all at 12pm. A hamburger steak and a fillet steak for two cost about 8000 yen, definitely for the elite 😅 In the afternoon, my son and I tried the zipline. The staff were very kind, and my first-grade son and I had a blast. We skied a total of six runs, but there were occasional uphill sections, which seemed a bit tough for the kids. They slept soundly in the car afterwards.

The main hall, Konpon-chudo, is currently undergoing major renovations, but you can go up close to the roof to see the progress of the work. Also, the principal image of Konpon-chudo is being specially enshrined in Manbai-do, allowing you to worship it from closer than usual. When you show the voucher you purchased from kkday at the reception, you will be given a pamphlet that serves as your ticket. Simply show this pamphlet when you pass through the reception areas of the East Pagoda, West Pagoda, and Yokokawa.