I have to go back to Nagahama. Not only is it surrounded by glorious countryside, and blessed with the most beautiful JR station in Shiga Prefecture, but it also boasts an area of beautiful old shops and traditional wooden homes, and an interesting history.
I always assumed that Nagahama meant long beach because there is a long beach there... but Wikipedia says that Hideyoshi Toyotomi named the town after Nobunaga. The kanji (長浜) mean long beach but maybe it was a play on words as well.
Anyway Hideyoshi built a castle there in the 1570s. Flintlock guns were produced in the area from 1544. Nagahama is also home to a famous bunraku puppet troupe, and I'm told they make beautiful glass ware there.
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