Kanazawa

Last stop on our tour of Japan is Kanazawa, a city on the west coast of Honshu.To get there we must first take a train to Toyama and then, a mere 9 minutes later, get on a train to Kanazawa. Nine minutes to exit one area of the large train station in Toyama, to find the next train’s platform, run through the station, get through the ticket turnstile, to platform 13, and jump on the train. We manage it with a minute to spare. And wonder how many people a day miss their trains?

Our hotel, the Mitsui Garden https://www.gardenhotels.co.jp/kanazawa/eng/?ads_type=pmax&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23029787501&gbraid=0AAAAA9pvphOXsNEIsWj9mVjw6bLflxO0B&gclid=CjwKCAjw9PvWBhAxEiwAddzYyU40l6ub3j7ihyhmXyB3QvaLWdoK1IOJtWa6K81pNd-N65B_3C2CIxoCcdUQAvD_BwE, is a short taxi ride from the Kanazawa station.

Well situated, close to Kanazawa castle and the famed Kenrokuen garden, the hotel also seems to be in an upscale neighbourhood. Rolex, Coach, Armani, Chanel, Tiffany, Gucci shops line the main street. Also close by is Omicho market where the seafood is fresh and healthy looking, but also expensive. Ditto for the produce. Dating back to the Edo Period, today the market is a busy and colourful network of covered streets with 200 shops and stalls. Flowers, produce, clothing, kitchen tools and more are also on offer. Lots of tiny Japanese seafood restaurants.

There’s a very Vancouver vibe to the city. Coastal, warm & humid, rainy at times, obviously wealthy, laid back … it’d be the place I’d pick to live if I ever moved to Japan. And if I could afford it.

Kanazawa’s population of almost a half a million inhabitants must be pretty well off, judging by the quality of the shops and the price of fish. We notice quite a few products containing gold leaf and learn that the name “Kanazawa”, which literally means “marsh of gold”, is said to derive from the legend of the peasant Imohori Togoro (literally “Togoro the Potato-Digger”), who was digging for potatoes when flakes of gold washed up.

Today Kanazawa produces 99% of Japan’s gold leaf. Artisans hammer tiny gold alloys to a thickness of just 0.0001 millimeters (one-ten-thousandth) such that one gram of gold can stretch up to a full square meter. A culinary specialty of Kanazawa is gold leaf covered ice cream. I can’t resist and for a mere $25 buy a vanilla ice cream cone coated in not just gold, but 1/2 gold and 1/2 platinum.

It’s raining when we arrive, raining the next morning, and rain is predicted for the duration of our stay. A bit of a downer as we are nearing the end of our trip and winding down.

But we are so captivated by the artisanship we see in Kanazawa’s shops that we are happy to be inside malls for most of our first day here. The attention to detail, the perfection of presentation of everything from food to useless but pretty balls intricately woven with coloured thread to jewelry to tableware, the preciousness of the packaging … all of it is gorgeous. Words themselves don’t come close to describing the artistry of the local craftsmen & women. Even the photos don’t really capture the eye-watering beauty on display on shop shelves.

The focus on perfect presentation is bordering on pathologic; the over-packaging wasteful. We see little evidence of recycling. Where does all the paper and plastic end up? Not on the streets, which are scrupulously clean and tidy. And there are no garbage cans to be seen.

The parks and gardens are similarly kept clean and tidy. The trees and shrubs are artistically manicured, nary a dead branch or wilted flower. There are workers everywhere pruning, cutting, weeding, tilling, planting, fertilizing, sweeping.

We wonder about the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, the finding of beauty and peace in what is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. Wabi, we learn, means rustic simplicity, freshness, quietness, and the spiritual richness of living with less. Sabi means beauty and character that come with age, as seen in weathered wood, rusted metal, moss on a stone, or a unique patina showing an object’s history and passage of time. The concept seems to contradict what we see on the streets and in the shops. And we’re not sure how to make sense of the paradox. Japan has been aptly described as a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Enough philosophy, back to sightseeing. Our hotel is close to Nagamachi, which was a samurai district, where samurai and their families used to reside. The area preserves a historic atmosphere with its remaining residences, earthen walls, private entrance gates, narrow lanes and water canals. We wander this area in the rain on our way to the large shopping mall by the train station.

We’re too overwhelmed by the magnitude of the mall and the variety of shops to do any actual shopping. Hungry for lunch we find a Chinese restaurant in the food court. No sooner have we sat down and ordered than Craig realizes his phone is missing. Thinking he left it in a washroom several floors down, he retraces his steps, while I sit awaiting his return with a table full of food getting cold. When he’s gone for an inordinate length of time I assume he’s not located the phone. Twenty minutes later he returns with a story that so exemplifies the kindness of the Japanese people.

He tells me that in the process of looking in the washroom for the phone (it’s not there) he encounters a Japanese man who wonders what he is looking for. Craig does a charade-worthy job of communicating that he’s looking for his phone. The man then gestures to Craig that he’ll help him find it, tells his wife the story, leaves her to continue her shopping, and leads Craig several floors down to the mall’s information desk. There the man explains the situation to the attendant. Voila! The lost phone is back in Craig’s hands. In the short time it was missing it was picked up by someone thoughtful enough to turn it in. Maybe this would happen in Canada or any other country. Who knows? But we are not at all surprised that it happened in Kanazawa.

By this point in the trip we figure we’ve logged over 300,000 steps, mostly in cities, mostly on concrete. The first inkling of something awry with my feet is when I awaken in the night with a stabbing pain in my right heel. WTF? I take an Advil and go back to sleep. The next day the pain returns after a couple of hours of walking. I sit for a while and when I get up and start walking again it happens in my left heel. It’s painful enough that I leave Craig at the mall and take a cab back to the hotel. I google “pain in both heels” and am not surprised when AI tells me it is likely plantar fasciitis. I stay off my feet for the rest of the day. By now it is pouring rain and I have a good book, so it’s not a huge sacrifice.

The next morning it’s sunny and warm. I put on a different pair of shoes and we head out, down the street and up a hill to the site of the former Kawazana castle. Originally built in 1592, the castle burned down in 1602, 1631,1759 & 1881. Most of the current buildings are reconstructions based how the castle looked in the 1850s. I manage a few hours wandering the site before sore feet send me back to the hotel. And up to the 13th floor to the onsen.

The hotel has, by far, the best onsen of the trip. Top floor, looking out onto the hills to the east of the city, with views of the castle garden. A great place to unwind and, because you have to scrub yourself clean before you get in, a place to groom after a day of sightseeing. A proverbial killing of two birds with one stone.

We’d thought for our last day here we might take a train and go to a beach town but scrap that plan when we awaken to grey skies and heavy rain. Instead we walk to Higashi Chaya, Kanazawa’s historic geisha neighbourhood. It’s the usual two story wooden buildings, narrow cobblestone lanes and lots of small shops & restaurants.

Seeking warmth away from the 12 degree temperature outside we find a Shogun Burger for lunch. Described by Trip Advisor as a burger that will “overwhelm all your senses with its melting fat, wild aroma, and violently delicious flavor. Don’t hold back. Just devour it with all your might. It’s a shockingly delicious taste that will shake your brain”. Made of Wagu beef, it is all that and, on a cold, wet day, just what we need.

Back at the hotel the onsen takes the chill away. Aaaahhhhh!!