Naruse’s Otsu: Literary Manhole Covers Beside Lake Biwa

When a fictional place becomes a real stop

Reading gives a place a private geography. A station or a stretch of water can hold a scene long after you close the book. Otsu’s Naruse covers make that connection public, placing an illustrated literary character in the streets that help give the novels their identity.

Mina Miyajima’s Naruse wa Tenka o Tori ni Iku is set in Otsu and won the 2024 Japan Booksellers’ Award. The municipality describes publisher Shinchosha’s donation of the first cover to mark the series’ final volume, published in December 2025. You do not need to know the whole series to enjoy the stop, but a little context changes how you look at it.

The first cover: arrive at Zeze

The first design sits outside JR Zeze and Keihan Zeze stations. The city credits illustrator Zashikiwarashi and describes a yellow border around Naruse, with a water pattern behind her referring to Lake Biwa. These are useful details to find in the artwork before you move on.

For a first visit, the station location is a practical anchor. Save the city’s installation image and compare it with your surroundings after leaving the station. Stop somewhere clear of the flow of arriving passengers before studying the map or framing a photograph.

The second cover: Nionohama

Otsu’s August 7, 2026 report confirms another design in front of Cielia City Otsu Nionohama in Nionohama 2-chome, the former Seibu Otsu store site. It shows Akari Naruse dressed as a Lake Biwa–Otsu tourism ambassador, with light and bubbles in the background.

That site gives the stop another layer for readers interested in the relationship between fiction and changing streets. Compare the two designs as illustrations with different moods, then look up and notice the setting. The cover is public art at a residential frontage; keep entrances clear and view it from the public approach.

The card situation, clearly stated

At our October 3 check, the city’s August 24 notice says the first Naruse card is out of stock and distribution is temporarily suspended, with no restock date set. The page retains older collection instructions underneath that notice. Those archived instructions do not mean the service has resumed.

For the Nionohama design, the city explicitly says a card is not planned. You can therefore enjoy both covers without building the outing around a hoped-for handout. If collecting a card is important to you, recheck the municipal notice for an actual resumption announcement before traveling.

Make a literary outing of it

The official Otsu tourism association has a Naruse visitor feature that provides a wider starting point for exploring the story’s connection with the city. Use it to choose an additional place that interests you, then check its current opening arrangements. Do not assume the two covers, the former card counter and every literary location form one short walk.

Bring a favorite passage in your own book, or simply write a few lines afterward about the place you found. A literary visit is most rewarding when there is room for your own observation alongside recognition. The cover becomes a small meeting point between someone else’s story and your afternoon.

Official and primary sources

Open the current source before travel. These links support the guide; they do not imply affiliation or permission to reproduce official images.

• Otsu City: first Naruse cover at Zeze Station and design context (Japanese)
• Otsu City: Nionohama cover, August 7, 2026 report (Japanese)
• Otsu City: Naruse card distribution suspension and future updates (Japanese)
• Biwako Otsu Tourism Association: Naruse visitor feature (Japanese)