Welcome to the Hotel Kanazawa
I first visited Kanazawa seven years ago or more, in July 2017. I was looking forward to the city's famous seafood, and afterwards the Hida beef of Takayama, my next stop. Alas, I was suffering from heatstroke at the time and had no appetite. More, the Airbnb I'd booked was, while not bad, a bit more basic than I'd counted on. Nor could I find the famous Kyoto-like district called Higashi Chaya, and altogether it was a bit miserable.
This time, I was visiting with my friend Mami (who made half of a pincer movement from her home in Gunma, while I came north from Osaka), and we stayed in a decent though not luxurious hotel. Unusually (apparently), the weather was perfect for the whole weekend, and we were able to enjoy food, see sights, and altogether lay the ghost of Kanazawa past. I got to eat a fair amount of sea food, including the famous (apparently) nodoguro, or black-throated sea perch:
... which was nice, though it didn't stand out from the amazing sea food in general...
One of the highlights was going to see the famous gardent of Kenrokuen, built by the Maeda clan back in the day, and considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. I did manage to drag my aching body over there seven years ago, and even ate a soft-serve ice cream covered in the gold leaf that is Kanazawa's other speciality. If you trawl back to July 2017 in this LJ you will see me there. This time, however, we were able to enjoy it lit up at night, along with a solo violin concert given from a traditional tea house from across the lake. It was a magical experience, though one sadly difficult to convey with a very ordinary Samsung Galaxy phone camera and equivalent skills:
That said, we went back the next day to enjoy the same scene by daylight:
The two-legged lantern in the last picture is the Kotoji Toro and is particularly famous, appearing as a kind of symbol of Kanazawa on various local goods and reproduced in various places worldwide. Why, you ask? I wish I knew, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone has taken it as proof that there were alien spacecraft in the Edo era.
We also managed to find Higashi Chaya, home of geiko and haunt of gapers, of whom we were two:
It's only a small district - and indeed, in many ways Kanazawa - far smaller an area than the size of Wales, or even Bristol - is a kind of chibi-Kyoto, but it has its own distinct charm and pride, and the castle and the surrounding park are delightful, especially in such perfect weather - which, I gather, is not typical for that region.
Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, and very close to the Noto Peninsula, which was devastated by an earthquake at the start of January, and since by floods and landslides, so we wanted to support the economy if only in a small way. (There were parts even of relatively unaffected Kanazawa Castle where you could see them still doing repairs from that time.) This document holder shows the Peninsula as a thumb, being helped by the rest of Japan...
Altogether, it was a very good trip - I always have fun with Mami-san!
This time, I was visiting with my friend Mami (who made half of a pincer movement from her home in Gunma, while I came north from Osaka), and we stayed in a decent though not luxurious hotel. Unusually (apparently), the weather was perfect for the whole weekend, and we were able to enjoy food, see sights, and altogether lay the ghost of Kanazawa past. I got to eat a fair amount of sea food, including the famous (apparently) nodoguro, or black-throated sea perch:
... which was nice, though it didn't stand out from the amazing sea food in general...
One of the highlights was going to see the famous gardent of Kenrokuen, built by the Maeda clan back in the day, and considered one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. I did manage to drag my aching body over there seven years ago, and even ate a soft-serve ice cream covered in the gold leaf that is Kanazawa's other speciality. If you trawl back to July 2017 in this LJ you will see me there. This time, however, we were able to enjoy it lit up at night, along with a solo violin concert given from a traditional tea house from across the lake. It was a magical experience, though one sadly difficult to convey with a very ordinary Samsung Galaxy phone camera and equivalent skills:
That said, we went back the next day to enjoy the same scene by daylight:
The two-legged lantern in the last picture is the Kotoji Toro and is particularly famous, appearing as a kind of symbol of Kanazawa on various local goods and reproduced in various places worldwide. Why, you ask? I wish I knew, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone has taken it as proof that there were alien spacecraft in the Edo era.
We also managed to find Higashi Chaya, home of geiko and haunt of gapers, of whom we were two:
It's only a small district - and indeed, in many ways Kanazawa - far smaller an area than the size of Wales, or even Bristol - is a kind of chibi-Kyoto, but it has its own distinct charm and pride, and the castle and the surrounding park are delightful, especially in such perfect weather - which, I gather, is not typical for that region.
Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, and very close to the Noto Peninsula, which was devastated by an earthquake at the start of January, and since by floods and landslides, so we wanted to support the economy if only in a small way. (There were parts even of relatively unaffected Kanazawa Castle where you could see them still doing repairs from that time.) This document holder shows the Peninsula as a thumb, being helped by the rest of Japan...
Altogether, it was a very good trip - I always have fun with Mami-san!