Kanazawa

I spent a month here living with a host family who ran a Tea House and Garden in the city. It was one of the most wonderful times of my life.

Kanazawa is a greta place to see pre-WWII Japanese architecture. I love architesture, but was worried that the friend I dragged along with me would be bored. We both fell in love with this city. Kenrokuen Garden was amazing. We could have wandered in there all day.

We stayed up on a hill in a hostel. Wandering down the hill we kept coming scross little temples and statues and other art.

We went to Seisonkaku Villa which is am old mansion. The walls have gold leaf designs. The upstairs rooms have vibrant color schemes.

Near the end of our day there, we went to a gold leaf shop. They gave us tea with gold leaf in it. Then we were shown the back area where they were making gold leaf by hand.

I never made it to the preserved samurai residences. I will definitly spend more tim ein this city when I get back to Japan.

This is one of the many “Little Kyoto” cities around Japan. It has a nice, small feel, and is quite comfortable. I went in winter, but no matter the season, go check out Kenroku-en, one of the three great gardens in Japan. Also, be sure to visit Ninja-dera – the “Ninja temple!” You have to book a place for the tour (Japanese only), but one of the very helpful taxi drivers can do that for you.

Oh, and if you have a chance, try your hand at “kinpaku” – applying gold leaf!