Sunrise at Lake Biwa

Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture is Japan's largest freshwater lake. Due to its proximity to the old capital, Kyoto, Lake Biwa features prominently in Japanese literature. From the castle town of Hikone, we took an early summer morning's trip to watch the sun rise over the lake. As Hikone sits on the eastern shore, the sun actually doesn't rise above the lake (one would have to go around to western Takashima to experience that). Nonetheless, the rising sun created some beautiful colors well worth exchanging some hours of sleep for. The pictures were taken in mid-July, from 4:30am-5:00am.