Biwako Otsukan standing by Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture originally was Biwako Hotel.

Biwako Hotel was built in 1934 in order to accommodate foreign VIPs.  The construction site was blessed with scenic beauty and easy access from Kyoto.  This hotel was one of the fifteen Western-style hotels in major tourist resorts built under the national policy at that time.

This was designed by Okada Shinichiro known as the architect of Kabuki-za in Tokyo, Osaka City Central Public Hall, Holly Resurrection Cathedral in Tokyo, and the like.  The names of the VIPs over the world such as Emperor Hirohito, King and Queen of Thailand, Helen Keller, John Wayne, Kawabata Yasunari are found in the old guest list.  This prestigious hotel relocated 2 kilometers south in 1998.  At the request of the locals, thereafter, the authorities carried out full-scale renovation work including seismic retrofitting on the refined building.  In 2002, the old building revived as a multipurpose commercial facility under the new name of Biwako Otsukan.  In this connection, as the building was used as an important scene of a smash-hit film on the theme of kabuki titled “Kokuho (national treasure)” in 2025, the number of the visitors has skyrocketed recently.

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