Summer Tour - Kanazawa Japan

 Kanazawa is described in the tourist books as a kind of mini-Kyoto, one of the few ancient cities of Japan to avoid destruction during the Second World War. As such it forms part of the “Golden Triangle” for tourist destinations in the centre of Japan with Tokyo and Kyoto forming opposite ends of the base and Kanazawa forming the apex.

Although cloudier than most of the earlier days of our trip so far (no doubt the lingering influence of the Typhoon that had accompanied our departure from Tokyo) it was still extremely hot and humid so our first full day involved a great deal of walking and then  sheltering in cool tea houses  and ice cream kiosks.

We started off with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. It was excellent with some really interesting installations including (see photos below) a swimming pool that you could walk around in, a 4 way table tennis table (that A and I played on) and a cricket photograph which was essentially two shots taken at precisely the same time but from different positions at opposite ends of the ground - it was really remarkable as it appeared to be the photographers for two different newspapers who had clicked the shutter at the same time.

We then headed to  Kenrokun Park, perched on top of a hill overlooking the rest of the City and rated one of the top 3 ornamental gardens in the whole of Japan. It was apparently a favoured place to promenade for the great and good of the surrounding area over a number of centuries and was centred around a large lake with water tributaries criss-crossing the paths.

We found in the centre next to the lake a lovely tea house specialising in Matcha tea (in fact Matcha everything from ice cream to sweets) which was a particular favourite for A although I was not quite such an enthusiast. From there, we made our way (walking) to Kanazawa Castle, a fabled edifice that had been destroyed by earthquake (and subsequent fire) but was in the process of being rebuilt with great elaboration and expense.

As is traditional for Castles, it commanded views across the neighbouring landscapes and we were able to explore both the grounds and the various parts of the Castle complex that had been reconstructed - it was an intriguing combination of engineering skill and opulence (as well as air conditioning - not a feature of the original but certainly most welcome to the hot and sweaty visitors).

Having walked for miles in the heat we headed back to the hotel for a shower and cup of tea before we headed out to a local restaurant that allowed you to construct your own sushi. This comprised of tables with (just) enough space to perch a wooden palette which had the rolls of seaweed and rice laid out ready to be transferred to the plate and dishes containing your selected filling - salmon/octopus/eel etc. as well as various types of Tuna and meat.

 The technique was to lever your chosen filling onto the rice roll being careful not to overfill it and then -using your chopsticks - to roll the rice/seaweed strip and then (again using chopsticks which I found almost impossible) to cut the roll into the individual sushi rolls - as the photos below show, this was not a particularly elegant process but what it lacked in finesse, it certainly made up for in taste!