Last Day in Kanazawa

Stayed in bed for a while in the morning before we went out for lunch. Today we had reservations at the Komatsu Yozuke sushi restaurant. 3 weeks ago Chie got the last two seats… For lunch time 😯



Once we got the first sushi piece in our mouths we could understand why a lunch restaurant can be fully booked 3 weeks in advance. Delicious!

Walking back to the hotel to get our bags and do some final omiyage-shopping before we entered the bus to Komatsu airport.

Today as previous day the weather was some sun, snow, hale, thunderstorm, rain. But once we boarded the plane it was mainly snow/hale and thunderstorm for 1.5 hours. Which was our delay, waiting for the weather to get better.

Oh, I almost forgot. When Chie and I had dinner at the restaurant at the airport in Kanazawa we got a big surprise… At the table next to us was Takeuchi-san. A friend of Chie’s and a girl that use to go with Mash-san on the ski trips I join once a year.

Higashi Chaya District & Kenroku-en

Second day in Kanazawa. Weather wise it was the same as the first day. In other words, we had all kinds of weather. Changing every 5 minutes or so. Snow storm. Hale. Thunder storm. Sun. Rain. Chie was quite busy with the umbrella.

First stop was the Iwamoto Kiyoshi Shoten. A small shop selling wooden artwork. We bought a few wooden plates to give away to friends and for ourselves. The shop owner asked if we wanted to see the factory. “Yes” we said. And he told us the directions to it.

5 minutes later we were in front of a small house. The factory. A woman had just gone out of the house, but she had pointed us to the house. Just as we arrived a young guy came out and when he understood we were visiting the factory he let us in… And went out again.



Chie and I were alone. In some strangers home where they also had a factory. In the “waiting room” there were some old things looking quite expensive and some money on a table. After 5 minutes the guy from the shop turned up and showed us his factory. With machinery from, well, early European industrialization (?).

Satisfied by the factory visit we continued our Kanazawa tour to a golden shop. Everything they sold had some gold in it. They also had a showroom factory where they made gold leaf (0.1-0.2 micrometer thick) which they used to make everything golden.

Next stop was the Higashi Chaya district, or east tea shop district. It was here that quite wealthy people came and enjoyed the company of Geisha.



We entered a 130 year old chaya called Shima. And I tried the tea but not the Geisha 😉




We continued by bus to the Kenroku-en garden. A beautiful garden that now was covered in snow. And artful arrangement to protect the trees during the winter time.




Kenroku-en was also where the first Japanese fountain was made, about 3 meters high. Still there today.



When we finally got out of the Kenroku-en we were tired. It had been a long day with many activities. We took the bus back towards the hotel and the place we had planned to have a dinner at. Ozeki, a nice oden restaurant with many local people.

We had many different dishes and started to talk with the neighbors, a Japanese couple from Kanazawa. They told us that “grandpa”, the owner’s father celebrated his 103rd birthday today. And that he everyday came to the restaurant and sat at one of the entrances and “worked”. Chie and I went to him and wished him a “Happy Birthday”.



We continued to talk with the neighboring couple for the rest of the evening. And once they found out I practiced tea ceremony once a month they wanted to give away their tea ceremony things.

We joined them in a taxi and went home to their place. A newly built house just the size for two retired people. They showed us an old incense box made of china about 300 years old. Blue and beautiful. And they showed a short samurai sword from the Edo era. And they said “Sorry” because they didn’t want to give either of them away 😀



But they continued to argue that I should have their tea ceremony things. Because the wife did not use it anymore and they were just going to throw it away. Eventually I gave in and we left around 11 pm in a taxi full with all kinds of tea ceremony things (eventually I will put some pictures on the blog showing them all, but not now).

With or without all the giving… Chie and I had a fun time.

Kanazawa

Off I went to Kanazawa. Although it was not so sure from the start. At Haneda it was unsure if we would depart at all at first. Then it would depart on time but maybe return to Haneda due to snow in Kanazawa area.

Well, off we went and no snow at the Komatsu airport 🙂 After a 30 minutes or so bus trip from the airport I was at the Kanazawa station. And it was snowing. A lot.

And it kept on snowing on and off the whole day. Mixed in with some hale. And, quite surprising, some thunder and lightening. We also had about 30 minutes of sunshine. The locals said that this was typical Kanazawa weather.

Just the minute after I checked in at the Ana Crowne hotel I met Chie, coming from the Kanazawa hotel where she staid during here business trip this week.

First stop was to have lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the Omi-cho market. We order so many things because we were quite hungry. I ordered Buri-kama-yaki (grilled Buri head) and expected a head the size we find in Tokyo restaurants.

Obviously Kanazawa people take some pride in their Buri. And to our surprise we got the head of a Buri of maybe half a ton or so 😯 (or at least 30 kg). We ate and ate and ate it seemed like there were always some meat left.


Buri-kama-yaki

Rolling out of the restaurant and into a snow/hail storm we continued to the samurai district. Our next stop was the Nomura-ke house, a house of a samurai in the Edo period. It was beautiful and interesting. And the tea was quite good.


Naga-machi Buke Yashiki district Samurai armor
Tea at Nomura-ke house

On our way to the dinner place we took quite a detour via the Kanazawa castle park and the Hishiyagura. It was snowing all the time but quite cozy. And no people.


Imori-zaka gate Statue of some very important samurai(?)

We also found a funny watering fountain in the middle of the street. Later we saw them everywhere. And even later someone explained that it was water from deep down (hot spring) brought up by the underground pressure and used to remove the snow on the streets.


Mini-fountain as snow remover

Our dinner was a bit of an anti-climax. Chie had visited this restaurant on Tuesday and liked it so much she made a reservation for tonight. But we were so full since lunch time we could not eat much. But we had some sashimi, mozuku, a sea cucumber sashimi. Yummy!

Next to use was and old guy that started to talk with us. Mainly about Kanazawa. Then he asked if we wanted to join him for another drink. So we joined him and ended up at Ogeha. A small place with some nice people running it. We had a drink and just got started talking when the guy bringing us there said “sayonara” and left 8O. We continued to have a fun time.