Cute Old Castle Town With Artisanal Glassware
Nagahama is located on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa, in Shiga Prefecture. A castle town in its early days, Nagahama flourished as a city of artisans and merchants. Walk along its streets and the rows of elegant wooden houses will steal your heart with the charm of their traditional architecture. There are many distinctive shops, restaurants and artisanal glassware shops lining the streets in the form of old homes and storehouses evoking an ambiance of the good old days of the Edo period.
Nagahama prospered as an inn town on the Hokkoku Kaido, a highway that connected the area with Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the Edo period. Old-style houses of the period line the street giving the area a retro feeling and are a short 5-minute walk from the station. Designated a Tangible Cultural Property, the interior of the Kurokabe Glass Shop is the same as it was when it was the Kurokabe Bank. Domestic glass items are displayed on the first floor and foreign glass items are offered on the second floor. The area where glass shops, workshops, cafes, and other businesses are gathered around the Kurokabe Glass Shop is called Kurokabe Square, and it is now one of the largest sightseeing spots with nearly 2 million visitors each year. Many tourists from outside the prefecture visit on holidays.
Nagahama prospered as an inn town on the Hokkoku Kaido, a highway that connected the area with Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the Edo period. Old-style houses of the period line the street giving the area a retro feeling and are a short 5-minute walk from the station. Designated a Tangible Cultural Property, the interior of the Kurokabe Glass Shop is the same as it was when it was the Kurokabe Bank. Domestic glass items are displayed on the first floor and foreign glass items are offered on the second floor. The area where glass shops, workshops, cafes, and other businesses are gathered around the Kurokabe Glass Shop is called Kurokabe Square, and it is now one of the largest sightseeing spots with nearly 2 million visitors each year. Many tourists from outside the prefecture visit on holidays.
