Yanagasaki Lakeside Park (Biwako Otsu-kan)

Yanagisaki Lakeside Park is a waterfront park where willows spread along the shores of Lake Biwa. As the main facility, Biwako Otsu-kan is located overlooking the lake.

Biwako Otsukan is a modern building constructed in 1934 as the Lake Biwa Hotel. Shinichiro Okada, an architect known for his work on the Tokyo Kabuki-za Theater, designed the building, and Shogoro Okada took over and completed it.

The beautiful building was called “the guesthouse of the lake country,” and many celebrities such as Emperor Showa, Helen Keller, and John Wayne stayed at the hotel, which boasted the highest prestige in Shiga Prefecture.

After the Lake Biwa Hotel relocated in 1998, Otsu City restored the site and building, and the building was reborn as a new cultural facility with a restaurant overlooking Lake Biwa, a cafe, a multipurpose hall, a gallery, rental conference rooms, and the Lake Biwa Hotel Museum.

The inside of the building has a Showa-era atmosphere, offering a pleasant moment.

English Garden

The English Garden, with its seasonal flowers, is located on a large site adjacent to Biwako Otsu-kan.

The 6,000-square-meter large garden boasts 2,000 roses of about 100 varieties, as well as seasonal herbs and flowers in full bloom.

Mr. Kay Yamada, a British horticultural researcher, created the basic design. The garden consists of three areas: the Gravel Garden, the Border Garden, and the English Landscape Garden, and is beautifully planted with 20,000 flowers, plants, and trees.

Pretty flowers and herbs are planted in the gravel gravel area. In the Border Garden, which stretches along walking paths and walls, taller plants are designed three-dimensionally as you go deeper into the garden.

In the knot garden, boxwood and other plants have been trimmed, and flowers and herbs have been planted between them to emphasize the pattern.

In addition, the Landscape Garden, with beautiful Lake Biwa in the background, features a water lily pond, a drum bridge, and a gazebo on a hill overlooking Lake Biwa, providing a picturesque view of the lake.

In addition, there is a chapel for garden weddings in front of the water lily pond.

In the Fragrance Rose Garden, under the supervision of Ken Osanai, a rose sommelier, 3,000 roses of about 300 varieties, from rare old roses to the latest modern roses, release their elegant fragrance. Since roses bloom in all four seasons, visitors can enjoy roses from spring to early winter.

In winter, the garden is illuminated at night, creating a fantastic atmosphere.

Lake Biwa sightseeing boats depart from Yanagisaki Lakeside Park Port, making for a relaxing day out.