Lake Biwa

This is Japan’s largest lake with a general surface area of approximately 670 square kilometers. Water from nearly 460 class A rivers flows into the lake, and of those, 118 rivers flow directly into Lake Biwa. The origin of the lake is estimated to be approximately four million years ago, and although the lake changed location and appeared and disappeared with the changing eras, the current Lake Biwa was shaped about 430,000 years ago. Together with Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea, Lake Biwa is one of the world’s 20 oldest lakes, and every year approximately 50,000 waterfowl migrate to the lake, which is why its wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.