There's a large lake called Biwa in central Japan that I caught a sight of in April and decided I'd like to have a closer look at.  The original idea was to get on the water.  There are allegedly boat trips to see and even land on some of the islands in the lake. I failed however to get any really firm information but I did discover that there is a small ski station above the lake.  You can go up in their cable car and admire the views and so forth.  The weather was not too conducive to getting pictures but it was a pleasant outing.

In the picture above you are looking down the lake towards Kyoto and in the one below across the lake over a couple of dark splodges that are islands.

They've got quite a nice way of avoiding fencing you in.  At various viewpoints there is a stretch of water.  They call it their infinity view.
 

Here's a girl living dangerously.

And here's a more relaxed way to view from behind the infinity ditch.  There are some runs up there and people were enjoying the chairlift. 

A zipwire was on offer as well as some other adventurous puruits that I did not pursue.

I had lunch.  The menu was not very Japanese but pasta is cousin to the noodle after all.  They grow vines in that part of the country so I had some of the white which tasted good to me.  I had some blue ice-cream.  It was called tropical milk whatever that might be.  I ordered it because I could remember the Japanese for blue. 

What I did spot was that down on shore there was sand of a colour that we are familiar with at home and I even spotted some beach umbrellas so the season must not be over by the lake.

What I decided to do when I came down was to take a train to the top of the lake and go back via the eastern shore.  I set off but after we had stopped at one small station (they are all small on this line) I found my train was going backwards.  I think what must have happened is that the train split at that point, one part continuing further north and the back end in which I was sitting going south.  I debated getting out and having another go on a later train but the effort reward ratio just didn't stack up.

The next day was my potter about Nagoya day, which I did.  It's a big city, Japan's fourth in population terms and most of it is office blocks and the like with I suppose what you might call signature buildings here and there and some historic buildings too.

My first stop was the tower in the background of this photo. The Mirai tower was built in the 50s.  There was a good display of objects and a house interior in the style of the time that the tower was built.  You can go up it which I did.  You can sleep in it because it contains a hotel.  I didn't, and obviously you've got fine views etc. 

The big building in the foreground is called Oasis 21 and is essentially a bus station but the link will fill out that description for you.  Its USP is that the roof is a pool of water.  You can go and walk around and peer down through it and so.  

This is how it looks from the tower.  The brownish cloured building to its left is an arts centre with concert hall etc.
 

This picture shows that the tower stands in a long park.  It stretches in the opposite direction too and has lots of space for events and general hingin aboot.  I walked the length of it.

The tower looks better from that viewpoint I think.

I had lunch in this Korean restaurant and the picture is just to remind me of how tasty it was.  It was indistinguishable from a Japanese meal.  They served me soup, a dish of lettuce leaves with three small dishes containing a dip, some pasta in mayonnaise and I think another veg plus a big bowl of rice and the main attraction a sizzling cast iron plate of thinly cut pork.

Then I came across a clump of shrines.  It was like a small park between two busy roads. There was one largish shrine and five or six other smaller ones.  I watched one chap pray at several of them before he gave me a cheery wave and got into his car and drove off.

Wending on I found a quiet green spot before getting to this museum of science and technology and whatnot.

I rested there for a while and a Japanese schoolgirl asked if she could take my picture.  I think it was a project or an after school club or something.  There was another girl around and a woman who might have been a teacher. 

She was delighted at having gained my permission and went eagerly about the business, crouching down for an upward shot, taking different angles, fiddling a bit uncertainly with the camera controls but having fun I think.

By pottered enough and went to look for a bus.  I found a stop reasonably quickly but it bore this message.

I couldn't find the roadotherside stop and spent a while wandering about wondering where all the buses had gone since there seemed to a dearth.  Eventually I found a stop which seemed to offer a bus going where I wanted and after a longish wait one arrived.

Now I hadn't managed to fit in a visit to Nagoya Castle in my pottering about Nagoya day so I went there this morning.  First I had to exchange my second rail pass voucher for an actual pass.  I got to the appropriate office at 9.30 to find a notice advising that I was half an hour too early.  In fact when I did get the matter done I noticed a notice saying their opening hours were from 9.  Maybe he sticks one or other out depending on his mood.

In any event I needed to find a locker to put my luggage in.  I had a look around the station but I knew I was wasting my time and should have gone straight to the bus station where the previous day when I went to catch a bus I'd noticed a high availability of lockers.  But it filled in the time and I entered the office dead on ten o'clock and was out five minutes later with my fresh pass and headed for the subway and the castle.

The castle and its grounds were lovely.  Here are a few pictures.

So I had a one course lunch called spicy pork cheesy rice and with it a glass of beer.  When she took my order the waitress asked me if I wanted a bowl of rice.  I said but this dish is rice.  Yes but for the same price I could have extra rice.  I think she found it strange that I didn't want it.

Lunch over back to the subway.  I came out of the subway and followed signs saying bus center (sic).  Well I went up and down and all over, through endless corridors and I thought something's wrong here but ultimately I was in the bus centre but could I find the lockers where I'd left my luggage? No.  The only solution I thought is to get out of here and attack from the station following the route I'd used in the morning, which I did and got to the bus centre and the locker.

The explanation is that there are two bus centres and I'd been to them both on bus journeys without realising that they were not one and the same place.

Much relieved I got my stuff and went for a train.  I had an idle thought as I waited.  On the destination board for platforms 14 and 15 there were six trains listed, all of them going to Tokyo and all of their departures being between 15.29 and 15.43.  Now Nagoya is Japan's fourth largest city and it's 220 miles or so from Tokyo.  Liverpool is England's fourth biggest city and is much the same distance from London.  Today there were scheduled one train per hour from Liverpool to London.  Does that tell us anything about Britain's place in the world?