Hey everyone, let me tell you about our weekend with our first visitors in Kanazawa! Our friends Marco, Laura and Mia are currently traveling through Japan and stayed at the city for three days. Some months earlier as they heard that we would move to Kanazawa, they planned their itinerary accordingly so that we could meet. We were very curious how they would perceive our new home.
They arrived on Friday evening and after some troubles with their accommodation (they had to change it last minute) we met for dinner in Katamachi and enjoyed some Teishoku food before we visited an Izakaya. Izakayas are bars where the staff also serves little snacks in between - you pay a so called entrance fee and then you can order your drinks and your snacks. Niklas and I haven’t been to an Izakaya before so we were happy to experience this together with our friends. It was a traditional setting, as we had to sit on the floor on a low table and had to deal with some serious knee pain after some minutes as no one of us is used to sit on the knees for a longer time period than 15 minutes! But it was funny, the snacks were pretty delicious and we were happy to be together.
Finally we meet again in Japan
Mhmmm… tasty!
On Saturday, we went on a sightseeing trip to see the classical tourist attractions of Kanazawa. First, we started at the fish market Omicho which is one of the oldest fish markets in Japan. We had already been there for a short visit on our first weekend but this time we took our time exploring the various little shops and had a close look at some of the products. Niklas and Marco even tried sea urchins… which are quite expensive by the way!
You can really buy any seafood here
Short snack at the fishmarket
Afterwards, we walked to the Kanazawa castle park. It had started to rain (of course) and was very humid, we really did sweat a lot during this short walk! In order to enter the castle grounds you passed a small garden which was truly magnificent! Everything looked so perfect and neat, we were fascinated. Even though it was “just a small garden” in comparison to the castle park or Kenrokuen Garden, we enjoyed walking through it.
Smiling even if it’s raining and so humid!
Seeing the castle for the first time up close is impressive. Sadly, it is not the original one as this was destroyed by fire. They rebuild it some years ago, so it feels a little bit strange to walk through the castle as it is completely empty (most artefacts are lost) and smells quite new. From the tower windows you had a great view of Kanazawa and the mountains. If you visit Kanazawa, you can buy a combination ticket for the castle and the Kenrokuen Garden, it is definitely a good idea. However, don’t expect too much from the castle itself, as it is only the reconstructed version of the original one. After the castle, we had some snacks (okay, let’s be honest, Mia and I had the snacks, no one else) and a short rest before we would enter the famous Kenrokuen Garden. Of course, it was still raining and very hot!
In most historical museums you are requested to put off your shoes and wear some cozy and interesting looking slippers…
Kenrokuen Garden is one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. And no, this is no typical tourism marketing - once you enter the garden you realize that this title is well-deserved. It offers some spectacular views and the whole garden design is truly magnificent. We were just walking around and admiring the scenery, the various shades of green and the magical atmosphere. I will definitely return and I am already looking forward to autumn when the leaves turn red or to the winter time when there will be much snow. The garden can be visited any time during the year and is not closed in winter.
On Sunday, Niklas and I went to Uchinada Beach with Mia, as her parents wanted to visit different locations (Marco went to Matsumoto Castle, Laura visited the 21th century Museum - oh and by the way, Marco met Niklas family in Matsumoto as they were also staying there at the weekend. How crazy is that?) and she wanted to spend one day with us at the sea. We were lucky that the rain had finally stopped and it was still very warm, so we met at the station and started our little trip by train to the Japanese Sea. From Uchinada Station it was a 15 min walk to the beach side. The beach itself was not busy - not many people were spending their day at the sea, so we really could enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. It is a sandy and wide beach, however cars are allowed to park on the sand and close to the sea, which was a little bit strange for us. Some groups even came with their van to have a barbecue or picnic at the sea and camp at the beachside. And, lots of young people were driving around with their jet skies and enjoying the high speed. Niklas later learned that there was no jet ski rental, everyone with a jet ski seems to own it!
Grey sky, grey sea
Mia and Niklas went directly into the water and checked the temperature which was quite nice. I assisted in building a sand castle (Mia was not too happy with my assistance, stating that my qualifications would not suffice for this task) and enjoyed the sounds of the sea. At the end of the day, Mia did have an unpleasant encounter with a jellyfish and that’s when we decided to leave the beach. Niklas and I also noticed that our backs and shoulders were burning a little bit and therefore considered it a good idea to leave so our skin could rest a bit.
We also noticed that other Japanese families wore UV protection clothes and we wondered why as it was cloudy and the sun didn’t show. Well, let me tell you, on the evening we all had huge sunburns on our backs, the “small burning sensation” was not so small in the end (we had used sunscreen but still…). So now we learned our lesson that the sun here is much more powerful than the sun we are used to in Germany! Ouch!!
On Monday, Niklas went to work at university, therefore, we explored the secret samurai and geisha districts without him. I managed to get a tour guide for a private tour from the Kanazawa Goodwill Guide Network called Yoko - she walked with us for 3.5 hours through both districts and showed us not only different places and houses (e.g. original samurai houses that you can visit and where you can get a very good impression how their life could have been) but also told us lots of stories about the everyday-life of a samurai (e.g. did you know that high rank samurai were allowed to have more than one wife? Apparently, this was not only pleasure for them but mainly tough work as they had to make sure that all women were happy and content… not so easy…), about the famous Kasa Jizo fairytale, the dangers of a city where houses were build out of wood and paper and about the tasks of a Geisha. We also visited the Geisha house Ochaya Shima in Higashichaya district where we got an impression of how this special life must have been.
The interior design of an original high-rank samurai house
Learning about the hard life of a high-rank Samurai (dealing with all his wives…)
It was truly amazing and so interesting! We were very happy that Yoko presented us all the interesting facts and stories about Kanazawa. So, thank you Yoko, it won’t be the last time! :)
But, we still had one highlight for the last evening coming up: last week, when we visited the German institute at Kanazwa University, we had been invited to join the students and teaching staff at their summer party. Lucky for us, we could extend the invitation to our friends and that’s how we found ourselves at a rooftop bar location in Katamachi, Kanazawa for a Thai dinner (of course it was the same principle as the last parties: all-you-can-eat for 2 hours). The students were mostly wearing traditional summer Kimono (Yukata) and looked so pretty! The location itself was very cool as we had a good view over the evening skyline of Kanazwa. We spent a nice evening there and of course, there were lots of photos taken… see below…
As you can see, we had a great time together and our visitors got a good impression of our life in Japan. :)
Every-day-life stories
Last time I told you about the rainy season. Well, the good news are: the rainy season is finally over! However, the heat intensifies and the sun can be cruel (as Niklas and I painfully learned after the beach day). Now you often see Japanese women wearing dark umbrellas or even long sleeves, made of a special material, to protect themselves against the sun. There is this stereotype that Japanese people want to keep their skins as white as possible and I was stunned to see how many people were walking around like this.
At first I was not convinced that this is a good idea. It is really hot and the idea of wearing extra layers is not helping! White skin or not, I can’t imagine that this is comfortable… But after feeling the sunburn for myself, I now begin to understand that this protection is not simply done out of vanity, but is done by logical reasons. The power of the sun is different from Germany as Japan is located more in the south than our home country. Therefore, the sun rays are way more intense than we are used to and start to burn your skin faster. Also, ultraviolet radiation is also more dangerous than at home. Walking around with a dark umbrella to produce extra shade or even wearing special protective sleeves or gloves would be considered very strange in Europe - but here, it is the normality of every-day-life. The only people you see who are wearing short clothes in summer are tourists!
So, if you come to Japan during the hot summer days, be prepared with high level sunscreen, hat and maybe a dark shaded umbrella. ;-)