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Mt. Hiei is a center of prayer and of ascetic practice, particularly the grueling 1,000-day kaihogyo (circulating the mountain). Practitioners walk about 30 kilometers per day, visiting 260 places on the mountain during their pilgrimage. This feat stretches over seven years, taking a total of 975 days to complete. The most demanding part is the do-iri, in which an ascetic sequesters themselves inside the Myoo-do — where Fudo Myoo (Acala) is venerated — to relive the experience of Buddha Shakyamuni attaining spiritual enlightenment sitting under a bodhi tree. During this nine-day exercise, except for leaving the Myoo-do to pray three times a day and obtain water to offer to Fudo Myoo, the ascetic does not eat, drink, sleep or lie down, and repeats the Fudo Myoo mantra 100,000 times. Upon completion of this physical and mentally demanding test, the ascetic is said to die and be reborn as an acharya (ajari).
Daiajari Endo Mitsunaga began the 1,000-day kaihogyo in 2003 and entered the Myoo-do in October 2007. In September 2009, he became the 13th person to complete the 1,000-day kaihogyo since 1945 and the 50th person since 1585, the year to which records go back.

On Nov. 26, 2023, a tour called “Walk the sacred gyoja (practitioner) pathway with the marathon monk of Mt. Hiei” took place. It was organized as part of activities by the Otsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in preparation for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo to attract MICE and post-convention visitors to Otsu. Taking part in the tour were three Europeans who currently live in Japan and are interested in Buddhism.
The group met at JR Hieizan-Sakamoto Station before 8 a.m. With an interpreter-guide, they walked through Sakamoto, a town in the foothills of Mt. Hiei, along streets lined with distinctive natural stone walls to Cable Sakamoto Station to use the 2,025-meter Sakamoto Cable Car Railway, Japan's longest cable car route. Alighting at Cable Enryakuji Station, they walked along the kaihogyo path for 10 minutes, led by Mitsunaga, and came to the Myoodo where do-iri takes place.

In addition to Hieizan Enryakuji temple, Otsu has many other attractions and facilities. A 2-kilometer-long stretch along the shore of Lake Biwa, where the Biwako Hotel, Biwako Hall and the Lake Biwa Otsu Prince Hotel are located, is known as “Convention Street.” The city intends to use the area to draw convention and tourism business to the city from attendees of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo. Since food is important for making people from all over the world feel welcome, the Otsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry is developing halal and vegan menus to accommodate all dietary requirements and preferences.
An inspection tour for Kansaibased consular staff on Dec. 14 included tasting halal and vegan menus created to appeal to the world’s diverse dietary cultures. The Biwako Hotel served a lunch prepared using halal-certified meat and seasonings containing no alcohol, and teatime at the Lake Biwa Otsu Prince Hotel featured halal and vegan foods. Enman-in temple already offers a vegan menu based on vegetarian cuisine served at temples.

Tatsumasa Kitahara of Digital Head Co, Ltd., which runs science education programs for children, gave a presentation on “A Satellite Built by the Junior Generation Engaged in e-kagaku Activities Goes into Space.” He highlighted the need for an environment and training to cultivate ICT (information and communications technology) personnel capable of working internationally, for children who will grow up to work in the space and robotics industries of the future.
An influx of foreign businesses and individuals connected with the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo in 2024 and 2025 is expected in the Kansai region. Offering many appealing tourist destinations, Otsu is in the spotlight with tourist infrastructure capable of meeting foreign visitors' needs.