Blogs from Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, Asia - page 5

This morning we spent visiting the Kenroku-en garden, one of the top 3 traditional gardens in Japan. We were stunned by the trouble the people go too to keep trees from falling over or branches from breaking off. The area has heavy snow falls in winter and no doubt this takes it's toll on the trees, the weight of the snow on the branches. Nevetheless, one would think nature must take it's course. We then went to the Nagamachi Samurai House district with it's walled streets (a strange thing in Japan). Some of these houses are known for their quality woodwork, costly windowpanes (paper) and serene gardens.... read more

Well I made it to Kagoshima in record time and as soon as I got off the train I could see the massive Sakurajima volcano that sits off of the coast. The only thing was it looked like it was going to pour rain yet again. But by the time I found Nakazono Ryokan, where I'm staying for the next two nights, the clouds had disappeared and the sun was out. It was a perfect day, about 18 degrees, so I filled up on some sushi and headed over to the volcano for a brief tour. The last volcano I saw was pretty cool, but this one was amazing. The island is littered in volcanic rocks and rich vegetation, and there are huge hawks flying all over and wild peacocks, it was like something out of ... read more

Kanazawa is quite a nice little city. It has very twee gardens, old samourai houses, some nice shopping streets and a big castle that, like most ancient Japanese structures, has been knocked down and entirely rebuilt ( new is better - no, really it is - how many English castles have lifts ). Anyway, we did our usual wandering about, cooked our traditional eggy vegetable pancake dinner at an Okonomiyaki restaurant, were the only customers at a local bar and jumped up and down a lot to keep warm.... read more

Kanazawa ranks among Japan's best loved cities. The east rise snowy mountains, to the north stretches the mittlike projection of the Noto, farther north along the Japan sea are Toyama and Niigata. ... read more