Kanazawa Adventure Day 3: July 9, 2013

I was up early again so that I could cram a lot of stuff in because I was going to be meeting Kacie for lunch and then again for dinner so I needed to get a lot of stuff in before 6pm.

What was great was that Kanazawa has a city loop bus that hits all the major tourist areas and for 500Y you can ride all day, so I bought one for my two solo days in Kanazawa.

I decided that on the 9^th I would visit the Higashi Chaya district, the 21^st Centruy Art Museum and the Samurai District. I would save the Garden and Castle for the 10^th.

So my first stop was Higashi Chaya. This is one of the preserved teahouse districts where you can still find geisha. The street is lined with old buildings and evokes a sense of being timeless.

The area also is home to the silver and gold leaf museum. Kanazawa is the largest producer of gold leaf in Japan and it can be found all over the city, from buildings to face wash to ice cream. There is a store that is built to incorporate a wall and room that is covered in gold leaf, in the brilliant afternoon sun it shines brilliantly. I did stop into the small museum where you can go into the back room and see people working on the sheets of leaf. Repairing tears or cutting the sheets into squares for sale.

The museum also offers a great souvenir in being able to decorate your own pair of chopsticks with “gold leaf” (it is not real gold, but allows you to mimic the look for free). I made a pair and am happy that I got a great memento of my time in Kanazawa that is very specific to that city.

This is a washroom in the museum. All the walls are covered in gold leaf

With my time in Higashi Chaya time finished I was back onto the bus to go to the 21^st Century museum.  This museum is very famous for it’s collection of modern art and also for it’s hollowed out swimming pool. I quite enjoyed the museum and its current exhibition.

After the museum and lunch with Kacie I was back on the bus to Naga-machi Buke Yashiki District. This is the old samurai district. It still maintains the old canals and mud walls that lined the samurai houses. Each of the former houses has its own unique roof and look and the well-kept buildings that have lasted 350 years are a sight to see.

After exploring the samurai district and not running into any samurai I went back to the hotel for a little rest before dinner. I met up with Kacie and a few other foreigners and we ate Mexican (a rare thing to find in most parts of Japan) and finished off the night with a couple of craft beers from a place that had just opened up.

Over all my third day in Kanazawa was busy, tiring and fun!