Sunshine greeted us to start our first full day in Kanazawa. It was the best way to wake up after a weird sleep, interrupted with train station noises and musical chimes - I guess there is a price to pay for convenience!
Our first destination was Omicho Market - quieter before lunch, so we could actually browse the many food vendors in relative peace. There were lots of things to see - fresh fruit and vegetables, a few meat shops, some cooked food, and plenty of seafood. We also found a coffee shop, souvenir stores, and, of course, restaurants. Since Kanazawa is very close to the sea (the shore is within a 30-minute drive), seafood is really fresh and we were ready for one of their local specialties: a seafood bowl (think of a really upgraded chirashi don). Based on recommendations, we picked Omicho Yamasan - and their bowl was incredible, almost overflowing with seafood and sprinkled with a few pieces of Kanazawa gold leaf. It was almost like having omakase in bowl form - including crab, uni, ikura, eel, scallop, octopus, squid, tuna, salmon, among others.
Filled with energy for the day, we headed towards Kanazawa Castle Park, and burnt those calories walking around Gyokusen-inmaru Garden as well as Kenroku-en Garden. The area around Kanazawa Castle had very good signage - with explanations for all of the landmarks and historical structures in both Japanese and English. There weren't as many tourists until we got to Kenroku-en Garden - one of the most famous gardens in Japan, and for good reason. It's a gorgeous garden with lots to see and admire, including cherry blossoms! It's also located at a higher elevation, so you can glimpse views of Kanazawa city around some parts of the garden.
Everywhere in Kenroku-en, there were people enjoying the gardens, taking photos, walking around in kimonos, and trying to get photos with cherry blossoms. The most noticeable differences between Kenroku-en and other Japanese gardens I've visited is the sheer size (nearly 25 acres) and the support structures in place to preserve the precious trees that were planted many years ago. In almost every area of the garden, you could see either long support beams propping up branches or leaning tree trunks, otherwise cables secured around massive stable tree trunks were drawn tightly to hold up leaning trees.
On the other side of Kenroku-en Garden was Ishiura Shrine - which caught my eye because of the many bright red torii gates. It was fun walking through all the gates, and seeing what was written on them, especially when I saw English on the rare gate!
The last area we explored before dinner was Higashi Chaya District. It was neat walking around yet another well-preserved area, rich in history - this was the entertainment district when the city was filled with samurai. All the buildings still seem to be in use, as shops and restaurants, and were very hospitable representatives for the local crafts and cuisine (e.g. gold leaf, lacquerware, cloth dying, seafood).
We tried to pop by a popular izakaya for dinner, but they were booked solid for the rest of our stay in Kanazawa, so we opted to head back to the hotel and eat at a place nearby. This turned out to be a pretty good decision as most shops seem to shut down by 8:00pm, but maybe it's because it was a Thursday?
Note that in lieu of subways (which seem to be non-existent in the area surrounding Kanazawa station and the tourist attractions), we used the buses to get around. Confusingly, some buses accept Suica card as payment, while others do not - you can actually check this if you look on the side of the bus near the entrance doors and see a sign that crosses out unacceptable regional IC cards. Conveniently, if you don't have the correct change (bus fare is 200 yen per adult), as was the case with us, the bus was equipped with a coin machine that provided change for 1000 yen bills.
Comments