2010年1月14日 10:54
Hikone
At the beginning of January I went with my friend to Hikone. It`s a small city located by the shore of the Lake Biwa. We wanted to see the Biwa-ko and also Hikone castle. The city is small and very peaceful. It was already 4th of January but many shops and restaurants were still closed till the afternoon hours. The city seemed to be really quiet as not many cars could be seen on the streets and not many people were walking around. First we went to see Biwa-ko. The views were really nice, because the lake is surrounded by the mountains.
After that we went to the castle.
This was the place were we finally met more people. Castle is the biggest attraction in Hikone. It`s not very big but is very charming. The castle has also beautiful garden, which was really amazing even during winter time.
What is really amazing, we were able to see sakura blossoming which we completely didn`t expect in January.
What`s more famous about Hikone is Hiko-nyan - the Hikone Castle`s official samurai-helmeted cat mascot.