Okishima

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

OkishimaLake Biwafishing villageislandcar-free

Shiga · Omihachiman

35.1841°N, 136.0795°E

Shiga's geography does a lot of the work at Okishima — the rest is knowing when to show up.

Okishima is the only inhabited island in a freshwater lake anywhere in Japan. About 250 people live on a rock 1.5 kilometres off the shore of Lake Biwa, in a single village packed along the southern waterfront, and they fish — the island supplies a large share of the lake's catch. There are no cars. There is one main lane wide enough for the electric three-wheelers everyone uses, a primary school, a shrine, and a very large number of cats.

The crossing takes under ten minutes and the whole island can be walked in an hour or climbed in two. What makes it worth the trip is not scenery so much as the fact that a fishing village of this kind, operating on its own terms, exists twenty minutes from a shinkansen line and almost nobody goes.

Visiting essentials

Best season

April–June and September–November for comfortable walking | Year-round for the crossing

How long to allow

Half day including the crossing

Hours

Ferries from Horikiri Port, up to 12 return sailings a day and fewer in winter and on Sundays

Closed: Open year-round; sailings suspended in severe weather

Entry fee

Ferry ¥500 each way | Free to walk the island

Getting out there

Access notes

Okishima-cho, Omihachiman City. Ferry from Horikiri Port, about 10 minutes, ¥500 each way, with up to 12 return sailings a day and fewer in winter and on Sundays. Horikiri Port is by Ohmi Railway bus from the north exit of Omihachiman Station. The island is about 7 km around; there are no cars and a small number of places to eat, several by reservation only. Confirm the sailing timetable before travelling.

Local knowledge

**Check the last boat before you get on the first one.** Up to twelve return sailings, fewer in winter and on Sundays. There is very little accommodation. **Eat by reservation.** The island's few places to eat mostly need booking, and turning up hungry at 1:00 PM is a common mistake. Some will do a lake-fish lunch with notice. **No cars, and the lane is narrow.** Residents use electric three-wheelers. Walking is the only option and the village is dense. **It is a working fishing village.** Nets, boats and drying racks in front of houses. Photograph people's property with the same care you would anywhere someone lives. **Two hundred and fifty people and a lot of cats.** The cats are semi-feral and fed by the village, which is why the island has a following that has nothing to do with the fishing. **Okinoshima Shrine and the hill walk.** A path climbs to a viewpoint over the lake in about 30 minutes, which is the only elevation on the island and the only place to see it as an island.

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