【Japan Shoryudo】Fourth stop: Kanazawa
🏞️Kanazawa is famous for its production of gold leaf, with 99% of Japan's gold leaf being produced in Kanazawa City. The traditional technique that allows gold leaf to be thinly extended to one ten-thousandth of a millimeter has become a representative craft of Kanazawa, renowned both near and far.
🇯🇵🚇Transportation in Kanazawa
Our previous stop was Takayama, from where you can take a 🚌bus or a train🚊 to Kanazawa. If you buy bus tickets🎫 too late and they are sold out, you have to choose the train, which is not direct and requires a transfer in Toyama. Actually, it's more convenient to travel from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa. Therefore, when you arrive at a place, make sure to buy your tickets🎫 in advance.
🏠Accommodation
In Kanazawa, we stayed for three days and two nights, choosing to stay at a chain hotel, Mitsui Garden Hotel, which has a large public bath♨️ and a laundry room🧺. The hotel is over 1 kilometer from the JR station, and a taxi costs 1800 yen. Although it's a bit far from the station, it's very close to all the major attractions, all within walking distance🥾, which is very convenient. However, I do not recommend the hotel's 🍽️restaurant, as it's more expensive than outside and not very cost-effective.
☝️Kanazawa's 🍽️Cuisine and 🛝Touring Route
🈯️Day One
Arrive in Kanazawa at noon, get the room, and immediately head to the Omi-cho Market to solve the food issue🍽️, about 200 meters from the hotel. The seafood at Omi-cho Market is plentiful and not expensive, with a rhythm that allows you to eat as you walk. 🦀Matsuba crab is a specialty, and you can buy live ones to be processed, which are fresh and sweet. 🍣🐟Fatty tuna, 🍥scallops, oysters🦪, 🦀crab, 🍤🦐shrimp, and various other seafood products are dazzling. The first day is spent indulging in great food and drink.
🈯️Day Two
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art ⏭️Kanazawa Castle Park⏭️Kenrokuen Garden⏭️Myoryuji Temple⏭️Oyama Shrine⛩️
🌃The swimming pool at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is a popular spot for photos, but other artworks are incomprehensible.
🏞️Kanazawa Castle Park and Kenrokuen Garden are together; you can reach Kenrokuen Garden by walking through the park. Kenrokuen Garden is one of the three great gardens of Japan, but it's quite crowded. You can try gold leaf ice cream🍦🍧🍨.
🛕Myoryuji Temple, built in 1643, is also known as the 🥷Ninja Temple due to its many traps and mechanisms. Photography🎦 is forbidden, and the interior is complex, appearing to have four stories from the outside but actually has seven. It's said that a well inside serves as a secret passage to Kanazawa Castle. You must call in advance to make a reservation, and they can speak English or Japanese. The cost is 1200 yen per person. Preschool children👧🧒👦👶 are not admitted. There is a Japanese guide, but you will be given a Chinese guidebook, which is recommended. If you don't know how to make a reservation, you can ask the hotel front desk staff for help.
⛩️Oyama Shrine has a bit of a mixed Eastern and Western feel.
🈯️Day Three
🚦Higashi Chaya District
There are three Chaya districts: Higashi Chaya District, Nishi Chaya District, and Kazuemachi Chaya District. Inside, there are many places to enjoy tea, shops, and you can buy local specialty souvenirs, many of which are regionally limited.