Hey everyone, Nabejun here!
I visited Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, which with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen this spring is currently an extremely popular domestic travel destination.
The wooden hand-drum-shaped gates are beautiful!
Inside the station there’s a tourism information area with a wide range of guides and maps available, and friendly staff on hand to explain how to get to all the sightseeing spots!
Facilities like this are really useful for first-time visitors!
The staff here recommended I use the “Kanazawa Loop Bus One Day Pass” to visit all the city’s different attractions.
So, I pick up the day pass, and it’s time for Nabejun’s sightseeing adventure to begin!
In search of traditional castle town atmosphere, I head to Higashi Chaya-Gai, which has been designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
There are souvenir stores and cafes to visit, but what I really wanted to see was Shima, which is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property.
Shima is an ochaya (a “tea house” where geisha worked) that’s now on display to the public.
It still retains its original Edo-era architecture, and you can get a real feeling of what an ochaya would have been like back then!
These accessories would have been used by geiko-san (geisha).
They’re so evocative!
After walking around, I pay a visit to the café inside Shima, which is called Kan-son-an, where I enjoy a bowl of matcha tea and a traditional Japanese sweet while looking out at the elegant garden.
Today’s sweet was modeled after an azalea rhododendron!
How about visiting Higashi Chaya-gai and taking your own trip back in time to the Edo era?
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