Okojo

Okojo or Ermine, is the most famous inhabitant of Shiga Kogen and the animal symbol of our ski resort. That's why you can find lots of souvenirs with this cute animal.

I found this cookies yesterday at Hasuike Hotel.

I wish I could meet an Okojo walking in the snow once in Shiga Kogen.

How about a Dorayaki???

Dorayaki is the name of a very traditional Japanese confection. This one here is from Shigayama Onsen, in Shiga Kogen, and you can try 3 different fillings: Green Tea, Coffee and Anbata [Anko (sweet red bean paste) + butter].

Shiga Kogen Nature Conservation Center

Today isn't a great day to go out and ski... But you can go out and ski/snowboard anyway or, perhaps, spend the day shopping those traditional souvenirs we usually try to find at the last minutes of our last day travelling. Which normally, is hard to find what we want to.

Here are some more options of Omiyage. This time, all from Shiga Kogen Nature Conservation Center.

These wooden puzzles illustrates beautiful animals and plants that can be found at Shiga Kogen.

Handmade chopsticks

A little notebook with Shiga Kogen flower's illustrations



Illustrated postcards of Shiga Kogen's flowers.

And, finally, this interesting craftwork sounds just like a bird!

Shiga Kogen Nature Conservation Center, at Shiga Kogen Sogo Kaikan 98 - Hasuike.

Here, the main focus is the "Relationship between Nature and Human Being", which exhibits the nature of Shiga Kogen. In the “Nature Salon” visitors can enjoy handicraft, using natural materials and in the Lecture Room they can study the nature.

Opening hours: 9:00 to 17:00

Entrance fee: free

お土産 = おみやげ = omiyage = souvenir

Walking through Shiga Kogen I found some interesting souvenirs...


Here in Japan, souvenirs or omiyages, seems a very serious business.


Apparently, if you come back from a holiday travel without a souvenir for your closest friends and co-workers, it seems very rude...

How about these ones here?

Nothing more traditional than those chopsticks (箸) here!
Looks even more interesting with these Japanese ideograms. You definitely had been in Japan!

I found these at Shiga Aspen Hotel, at Giant Ski Area.

This beer is made of rice!

And these beers are interesting because Shiga Kogen is the name of the beer... and you don't have the chance to tasty beers like this everywhere...

And this dark beer here is Caffè espresso taste!!!

Do you like beer? Do you like coffee? How about a Espresso beer? ;)

I found these beers at Hasuike Ropeway Station but you can find it in many other shops and hotels in Shiga Kogen.

And finally, it seems a good choice for those who wants to try a very tradicional Japanese sweet but it's not a adventurous kind of person. Choco Mochi is made of rice but the chocolate taste will be just fine for every western taste. You can find it at Hotel Heights, Hotaru Onsen Area.