Field Notes
As I huffed up the stairs, finally after a gruelling, lungs-on-fire, sweat-drenched climb that lasted….. 15 minutes (to be fair, the steps were uneven and pretty steep), the roofs of the temples were finally in sight.
Just a short half-hour train ride from Kyoto, Shiga is best known for Lake Biwa, the largest lake in the country. In Japanese, it’s called Biwako, with biwa as the lake’s name and ko meaning “lake,” and the biennale is named after it. The event takes a similar approach to the Setouchi Triennale, turning vacant homes and ancient buildings into temporary art spaces to breathe life back into the town. Every two years, locals and volunteers come together to clean up these long-neglected places, while Japanese and international artists transform them with site-specific works. The goal is simple: to draw people in and, through art, bring attention to the lesser-known parts of Japan.
Omihachiman Old Town, the main venue for the biennale and where I stayed for a few days, feels like what Kyoto would be if a zombie invasion sent 99% of the tourists running. It’s an old town with a canal‑moat where visitors can ride boats to get a sense of life centuries ago. It once thrived as a merchant hub at the crossroads of a highway from Kyoto to Edo (today’s Tokyo) and a shipping route linking the Sea of Japan to Kyoto via Lake Biwa. Now it mainly serves as a stop for day-trippers exploring its old streets.
Here you will find few cars and even fewer people. Hardly anyone walks the streets and there aren’t many supermarkets, convenience stores, or malls. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t rise early, but sleeps early.
During the day, the shops that do open mainly cater to visitors from nearby cities. They arrive by bus to see the old buildings and try Omi’s world-famous beef. Lunch is the only time restaurants feel busy. By 4 p.m., shops close their shutters and the streets fall silent. After that, if you want food, you’d have to walk or take the occasional bus downtown, where a few restaurants, supermarkets, and a mall stay open.
On a walk one early morning, I noticed standees with illustrations of cats outside shops that weren’t open yet. Curious, I scanned the QR on it and realised it was a local community initiative to turn exploring the old town into a local treasure hunt. It reminded me of the stamp rallies I’d seen at the World Expo and Setouchi Triennale. Visitors hunt for cat mascots placed at shops around town, turning sightseeing into a playful scavenger hunt. Japan has a long tradition of turning everyday activities into a game. Even public service announcements are playful here, more like reading a cartoon than a warning, like these ukiyo-e–style posters featuring frogs in classic Japanese art.
Just a 15-minute bus ride away is Mount Hachiman, where you can take a ropeway up or, if you’re up for a workout, tackle the steep walking trail from the base that passes a temple, castle ruins, and eventually reaches the summit. The top of the mountain holds a 180-degree view of the town and Lake Biwa. A handful of artworks were scattered around, blending into the natural surroundings so subtly you could almost miss them.
Naturally, I chose the ropeway, convincing myself that the 808 steps I climbed that morning earned me this luxury. Shortly after, a group of five hikers in their 60s arrived from the forested trail. Watching them, dripping with sweat and grinning like conquerors, I felt embarrassingly small. They pointed out parts of the town, chatting about what had changed, while I tried to pretend the ropeway counted as an epic climb.
Okishima Island
The third and final venue, Okishima, is one of the few islands on the lake and the only inhabited one here. About 350 people live here. There are no cars, only tricycles and people walking through narrow lanes of mostly empty houses, nets hanging from every surface. The air smells of fish, and everywhere you look, fishing is still the main business.
Streets are nearly empty. Without the biennale, I can’t imagine why tourists would come. There are no shops, just a handful of restaurants run out of homes for locals and the occasional visitor. It’s so quiet it feels as if time stopped visiting.
Travel is a way to learn from and about the world. Field Trips is a new series of notes about the people and places we meet along the way.
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Felix Ng
Co-founder, Anonymous
@felix.anonymous