Shiga was world-class geographer who wrote Mikawa's Sons and An Essay on Japanese Sceneries. He was born at the end of the Yedo period the son of an Okazaki samurai. After graduating from the Sapporo Agricultural High School, he joined the Japanese Navy and boarded a ship to receive training the South Pacific. Around this time he took his nationalism very seriously and worried about the Westernization of Japan. In his book An Essay on Japanese Sceneries, he magnificently describes the scenery around the Kiso River, calling the "Rhine River of Japan." He traveled around the world three times and was appointed an honorary member of the Royal British Geography Association and the Brazilian Geography Association.