Biwako-onsen Hot Spring (a hot spring near Biwako [Lake Biwa]) (びわ湖温泉)
The term "Biwako-onsen Hot Spring" refers to a hot spring located at Chagasaki, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture. It is also called Chagasaki-onsen Hot Spring.
Access
Seven minutes on foot from Otsukyo Station on the Kosei Line of the West Japan Railway Company.
Seven minutes on foot from Ojiyama Station on the Keihan Ishiyama Sakamoto Line of the Keihan Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
About fifteen minutes drive from Otsu Interchange of Meishin Expressway.
Spring quality
Alkaline simple hot spring.
The spring source temperature is 34.3℃.
Efficacy of the hot spring
It is supposedly good for curing neuralgia, rheumatism, wounds, myalgia and arthralgia.
Ryotei Koyo (the former Hotel Koyo)
A hotel named 'Ryotei Koyo,' the big appeal of which is the Japanese interior design, has opened for business since October 1993. Hotel Koyo (see below for further details) was renovated to reopen as Ryotei Koyo. It is run by 'Biwako Resort Hotel K. K.,' a subsidiary company of Japan Leisure Service Group Co., Ltd. based in Kyoto City.
An open-air bath facing toward Lake Biwa enjoys popularity. Two restaurants named "Kosai" (literally, "lake's coloration") and "Kocho" (literally, "lake view") that face toward Lake Biwa opened on September 14, 2007.
Courtesy cars modeled after ox-drawn carriages,' a microbus with a painting of the head of an ox on the front part, is used to pick up guests.
Hotel Koyo
Biwako-onsen Hot Spring was formerly famous as a leisure complex in which Hotel Koyo (year of opening: 1964) played a central role. In its vicinity, an amusement park named Biwako Onsen Koyo Paradise was adjacent to it.
(The amusement park opened as Koyo Paradise in 1966.)
(Later its name was changed to 'Biwako Paradise,' but it closed down in December 1998.)
(It is called Koyo Paradise hereinafter.)
Generations that resided in Kinki region at that time still talk about the TV commercial of Hotel Koyo with an enka (Japanese ballad) style theme song sung by a singer Kyoko TAMAI. The commercial message of Koyo Paradise was also well-known.
(The commercial message of Hotel Koyo was broadcast almost everywhere in the country.)
(Especially, it was always broadcast by the affiliates of TV Asahi Corporation on Saturday evening when they televised a big sport.)
In 1978, Koyo Paradise adjacent to Hotel Koyo opened 'Hotel Orient Express,' which was a nine-car train consisting of a steam locomotive made in Germany and eight sleeping railroad cars made by International Sleeping-Car Company, on its property. It became a topic of conversation at that time. But these sleeping cars were dismantled due to the closing down (also refer to the section on Steam Locomotive Hotel).
Marutama Kanko in Kyoto City, the former operating company of the above-mentioned Koyo Paradise and Ryotei Koyo, was in debt due to the renovation of the hotel, the business depression of the amusement park, etc. The company became bankrupt on March 1, 2006. Ryotei Koyo had been sold to Japan Leisure Service Group Co., Ltd. in Kyoto City, which is abbreviated to JLS, before the bankruptcy. Pieces such as sculpture from Greece and Rome, Japanese-style paintings and western paintings collected by Yasaburo KINOSHITA, the founder of Hotel Koyo and Marutama Kanko, were on display at Kinoshita Museum of Art adjacent to Ryotei Koyo. Although the museum continued to exist even after the bankruptcy, it is now closed due to preparations for a removal. On the other hand, a condominium has been built at the site of the demolished Koyo Paradise.