Kanazawa, Japan - Oct 05, 2014

Yes, not Tokyo but Kanazawa was a great alternative as it may have been a city that we would not have known to explore and explore we did. Kanazawa was historically shielded from outside influence by its location between the alps and sea and supported by an ample rice production. More or less came into existence in the late 1500's, then an area known as Kaga it was passed from egalitarian government under the Ikko Buddhist sect to the firm rule of the Maeda lords. While much of Japan was still unstable, Kaga had three centuries of peace and became the richest domain on the land. This led to cultural development with artists coming from Kyoto to develop new, more vibrant styles with less restraint. The bonus here is that since Kanazawa focused on culture the lack of industry meant that the city escaped bombing in World War II and therefore retains its amazing history today.

Yes we did get some rain today but this did not stop us for pulling back the layers of this city to find all the hidden gems. We have four uploads today, I think it is my most ever but it was very difficult to narrow down the inventory of almost 700 pictures taken today.

After a nice dry sail in our day started at the Omicho Market fish market, always entertaining at the markets with offerings of great photos. We then took our all day bus loop pass and headed to Higashi Pleasure District, established in 1820, this was the grandest pleasure district outside Kyoto and Edo. Full of atmosphere, this area has the old fashioned street lamps and wooden lattice windows which hide the elegant restaurants and craft galleries. There are still a few actual Geisha houses with one that you could view, since no cameras were allowed we did a miss on this as we had a lot to pack into our day. We did stop at one former tea (Geisha) house which now sells gold leaf items as well as demonstrates its production - there is one room here with walls of all gold leaf - amazing. From here we hiked over the Kenroku-en Gardens, in one word, wow, this is a garden of a million pictures, established in the 17th century, this rates as one of the top three gardens in all Japan and I had a very difficult time in scaling down the pictures, there was just so much to see and take pictures of. We did stop for a delicious noodle lunch, fantastic.

A walk over an impressive castle bridge took us to the Kanazawa Castle, very magnificent but as this is when we got rained on we do have fewer pictures, we could have spent a lot more time here but we continued. Next was an another amazing site, the Oyama Shrine another beautiful spot, as tour leader of Jan, Jeff and Ellie, I did not go through the main entrance as I saw another opening down the street. I mention this because the trail was not much of a trail where we had to duck and weave a few times before this amazing site unfolded before us - I believe my choice of entrance was far more dramatic than the road more travelled.

Back on the Bus and we were then off to the Temple district for some more great photo opportunities. By this time it was 3:15 time to head back to the ship for all aboard time of 4:30, we comfortably made it back by 4:00. Yes a great day here in Kanazawa.

Our evening was capped with a wonderful dinner with cook, chef and author Paulette Mitchell. We have had a chance to get to know Paulette on our last few cruises and we very lucky to able to have dinner with her at the Canaletto last night, yes just the three of us so it was a very special night.

Tomorrow we will be in Fukuoka where it promises to be sunny and warm, yah...

Hope you enjoy our many pictures of Kanazawa...