Japan 2023. Day 31. My last glimpse of the Sea of Japan and my first glimpse of Lake Biwa

Today was a low stress, high beauty, kind of a day. No pesky freeways to stress me, and lots of green on the land side and open ocean on the other side. I had the peace of mind to look at the birds, stop to take pictures, and reflect on the beautiful sunny day. BROOM! Goodness gracious! I had forgotten that today is Sunday and lots of motorcycles are on the road. I am pretty sure these are Kyotoites who pour out en masse to the great outdoors to try to even their humdrum lives as Sarariman (meaning an office worker and derived from the English "salary man"). The good thing is that now I have lots of company on the roads.

I had lunch at a restaurant called  図や時刻表, which probably means as little to you as it did to me. I have learnt that you just have to be brave, walk in, and say Hai (yes) to whatever the waitress asks you. This time I had walked into a Korean Barbecue place, where I was escorted to a cozy cubicle with a burner in the middle of the table. The waitress suggested the set menu, to which I said Hai! A few minutes later here comes an accompaniment of small dishes (rice, pickles, Kim-chee), plus a tray of sliced meats that included beef, pork, and chicken. It is pretty straightforward: You are your own chef, and at your leisure you can barbecue your meat, morsel by morsel. Delicious!

I took several side roads into beautiful mountain valleys, which led me to a family park where scouts were camping, families were playing mini-golf or were having a pic-nic, and folks were happily enjoying the sunny day. I also found a beautiful Buddhist temple, with fierce devils, fat frogs, dragons, and a ginormous gilded statue of The Buddha. 

 

Finally, I arrived at the northern end of Lake Biwa, which is the largest lake in Japan. I had before talked about Lake Shinji, which I overestimated to be as large as Lake Tahoe. No. Lake Shinji covers an area of 100 square kilometers, whereas Lake Tahoe covers an area of 490 square kilometers. Lake Biwa is a tad bigger, covering an area of 690 square kilometers. I plan to stay two days on the north side of Lake Biwa, and two days on the southern end, because I want to soak in its spirit. I have been toying with the idea of doing some work in limnology over the next few years, and Lake Biwa has been one of those lakes that have set the bar regarding limnological studies.