One of my favorite things about living in Kyoto is the amazing day-trip opportunities. This is, of course, because of Japan’s incredible train system, but also Kyoto’s location. Since Kyoto is right by Osaka, Nara, Lake Biwa, and more, it’s very easy to craft the perfect day trip.
On Saturday the 14th, I decided to visit La Collina Ōmi-Hachiman. Since I’m an architecture girly, this was on my Japan bucket list.
La Collina was designed by the famous architect Terunobu Fujimori and the renowned designer Michele De Lucchi. La Collina is located in the beautiful town of Ōmihachiman, just off the coast of Lake Biwa.
This town has fields, mountains, and lake views, which made it one of my favorite places I’ve visited so far.
La Collina was designed to be a symbolic gathering space where architecture, nature, and community coexist harmoniously—and I can say firsthand that the community truly thrives here.
On my bus ride from the train station, I sat next to an older woman. We started a conversation using Google Translate on my phone and ended up telling each other about our lives. We bonded over our love of architecture and nature. As it turns out, we were both heading to La Collina. I had made my first friend of the day—along with her entire family, who were all very excited to meet a foreigner visiting.
Throughout the day, multiple people struck up conversations with me, mostly asking where I was from and saying they were happy to see visitors getting out of the big cities. That doesn’t exactly happen every day in Kyoto. People there are friendly and curious, but strangers don’t usually come up to you the way they do in more remote areas of Japan.
Honestly, the La Collina complex felt like a Studio Ghibli village. The architecture definitely contributed to that feeling, along with the atmosphere of the community. Kids were playing all day, characters in costumes were walking around, talk shows were happening, sports teams were visiting, and food vendors were everywhere. All of these things created a very friendly and lively environment.
I also decided to do this trip solo so I could really take my time experiencing the architecture, walking through the shops, and drinking multiple iced coffees with multiple baums. It was amazing to experience a Baum factory here as well. I had tried the 7-Eleven version before and always thought it was a nice cake pastry. But when I experienced a fresh, warm baum with freshly whipped cream and an iced coffee, that was truly the peak baum experience.
I continued my day with a hike up to a Buddhist temple. Online, the hike was described as an easy half-mile walk, but it neglected to mention that it included 808 stairs. It was definitely a difficult climb, but it was also beautiful and completely worth it. I talked with several people on my way up and down since we all bonded over the challenge. Even though my Japanese is pretty bad, we all understood each other perfectly through sweating, fanning ourselves, and laughing.
I finished the day by visiting a local onsen and then taking a peaceful train ride home with plenty of 7-Eleven snacks.
Overall, I would recommend visiting La Collina—and the surrounding town of Ōmihachiman—to anyone interested in architecture, nature, food, or community.
I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take this trip without studying abroad with Temple University Japan Campus Kyoto Campus, and I encourage anyone who enjoyed this story to look into studying abroad with them.
