Kanazawa

Just back from the quick trip with Yuko to Kanazawa for the weekend. Kanazawa is a great city down the coast of the Sea of Japan in Ishikawa prefecture. It's famous for being called 'Little Kyoto' and has lots of beautiful old cultural things that were preserved because the city wasn't kaboomed in the war.

Saturday morning we left on the train, less than 3 hours trip on the express. Got into Kanazawa station (very cool building, but I still think Kyoto station is ichiban ace) and the hotel was across the street. After checking in we headed out to the Omicho fish market to take in the sights before dinner. The market was rad but was pretty mellow since we were there in the afternoon, but I saw every imaginable kind of edible bit of any kind of fish or thing you could find in the ocean, from black squid ink goo (which I managed to spill down my shirt of course) to whole fish to whale blubber (oh, Japan, stop doing that).

Later we had a dinner reservation set up for us at a little back alley upscale Japanese style eatery and sake bar called Owase. It's the kind of place that only certain people know about, and usually only has regular customers coming in. The master was a rad old character, very skilled and very personable. The place only seats about 15 people but it filled up after we got there. The master explained that his place has been popular and in business for 20 years, but he would never make it bigger because it would compromise atmosphere and quality. In this kind of Japanese resaurant you truly are in the hands of the master who will not only take care of you, but befriend and entertain you as well. It was a truly Ishikawa meal with mostly seafood that was just caught from the Sea of Japan, and local sake (and almost too much of that). We made buddies with the old married couple to our left who were out for their wedding anniversary, and to our right, some seedy Yakuza-looking guy with his dumbbrains hostess call girl date.

The next day was kinda lazy until we motivated and did some sightseeing. I wanted to see Kenrokuen, which is one of the greatest Japanese gardens in the world and fulfills the 6 attributes of perfection that a garden should have, according to the Chinese people that made the garden rules. The weather turned nice (it rained Saturday) and it was just lots of strolling and enjoying such a solemn, beautiful place. We then taxied over to the Samurai district to take in the old-style samurai homes and museums, and finally we hit up the Higashi geisha district with the old architecture and tiny back alleys before having to get back to the station for the train. Didn't even spend 30 hours there but it was a great trip, though I didn't see nearly as much as I should have, so I will definitely make it back there at some point in time.

Got fresh sushi bento for the train trip back and slept off last night's sake/seafood hangover...