Journey Around Lake Biwa Issue 7

Shiga Prefecture is home to Lake Biwa the largest lake in Japan. In this issue we interviewed six people on the theme Living Wooden Culture of Lake Biwa and presented articles that delved into the vibrant scene there. We featured six experts are those who are familiar with wooden and culture around Lake Biwa and are active in their respective fields. The area around Lake Biwa is rich in nature. In particular forest areas make up half of Shiga Prefecture. Since ancient times Japanese people have lived and worked on the heavily forested mountains made wooden tools and lived with wooden items in their lives. From woodcarving and woodturning to old and new Japanese-style houses and gardens both old and new we can see that wood has always been an essential part of Japanese life. This time we talked with the experts about Japanese wood culture that closely relates to our life. From these interviews I hope that you can feel the rich life of Japanese woods through photographs.