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Visiting and staying in a traditional ‘onsen’ (hot spring) town is something of a must-do activity when coming to Japan. Making use of Japan’s abundance of natural thermal water, many hot spring town...

The Sekai Heiwa Kannon (World Peace Buddha Statue) is 25 meters tall and is set upon a hill overlooking the town of Yudanaka. This bronze female statue is dedicated to world peace and is found on the ...

The decorative planting workshop is one where moss is used to create a living decoration in a glass bowl. This form of art derives from the age-old art of bonsai, an artform where a tree (usually a t...

World famous architect Kurokawa Kishou designed the Shiga Kogen Roman Museum with the idea of uniting building with nature. The museum, although small, exhibits a variety of art from different eras. ...

Issa-no-Komichi is a path named after the renowned haiku poet, Issa Kobayashi (1763-1868), formerly known as Nobuyuki Kobayashi. Issa frequented Yudanaka to use the hot springs and gather people toget...

Kaleidoscopes are not as popular now as they were a few decades ago, but here at Byakurenbo (白蓮坊), very close to Zenko-ji Temple, they sure bring new life to these things. Here you can participate in ...

At Byakurenbo (白蓮坊) you can make your own bracelet with gemstones. You can add pre-made handcrafted glass beads (tonbo-dama) to the design of the bracelet. They have a large selection of minerals to c...

At Gallery Shop Hanagura (ギャラリーショップ花蔵)  you can make glass beads of your own unique design with different colors and patterns. This you can then make into a beautiful necklace or strap for your phone/...

At Gallery Hanagura (ギャラリー花蔵), various traditional techniques are used to create unique and elegant products. Here you can participate in a Yuzen or Kusaki-zome dyeing workshop.The earliest records ...