Kanazawa: One Fine City in Japan
Just like few other foreigners I have met here, we – Japan addicts, are here in Kanazawa mainly because we ran out of the new places to see in Japan. However, we also now – after getting a taste of this fine city – all agree that Kanazawa deserves much more than being seen as the secondary option and is one of the finest cities that we have had a chance to visit in Japan. Kanazawa is a fairly small city located in Ishikawa, one of the western prefectures of Japan, combining traditional Japanese architecture with some very innovatively designed museum spaces. My usually biggest problem with Japanese cities is that you need to put a lot of effort into disregarding the dominating post World War II concrete architecture to appreciate the more inspiring parts of the city. Even in Kyoto, you need to work really hard since the nice and to be honest – ugly parts are mixed in together. In Kanazawa, those two parts are very segregated allowing you to enjoy the nicer parts without much visual effort by freely roaming your eyes around (like constant framing as if you are taking a photograph). Kanazawa is a small city but home to number of sizeable parks and gardens, which set the serene vibe of the city.
Museums of Kanazawa
One other allure of Kanazawa is the fine quality of the museums hosted in the city. My two favorites are 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art and D. T. Suzuki Museum. D. T. Suzuki Museum is dedicated to the life and works of Kanazawa born Buddhist philosopher Suzuki Daisetz Teitaro and the architecture of the museum aims to bring out the serenity that comes with Zen philosophy. It in my view greatly achieves its purpose. It is well worth the entrance fee of 300 Yen, which includes an English audio guide. There is a pool surrounding the museum, which at the time of my visit acted as a great mirror reflecting the colors of autumn flushing out of the surrounding small forest. The contemporary art museum on the other hand is surprisingly rich in terms of the permanent collection. In addition to Blue Planet Sky by James Turell, l`Origine de Monde by Anish Kapoor is included in the permanent collection. While these two pieces are quite known, Swimming Pool by Leandro Arlich is the piece, which gets the visitors the most excited. The work is comprised of 10cm of water suspended over transparent glass, which gives the deep water feeling thanks to the aquamarine colored empty space below. Visiting the pool is free unless you want to enter in the aquamarine part and get eye to eye with all the photographers above the ground looking down at you. It is a quite photogenic piece in every sense of the word and therefore expect many mobile photographers working really hard on their choreography. I noted that acting like climbing the stairs of the pool was a favorite pose for many.
Fall Colors in Kanazawa
It is now early December here and to my surprise, the city is still home to a great range of autumn colors. While the trees become a little more naked each day, it has been an amazing experience to visit the same places everyday over the last week and see a different color each day. One of the most rewarding parts of Kanazawa is that you get to experience all this beauty without any crowds since the city somehow attracts less visitors compared to the usual suspects such as Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo. While I understand it still tends to get a little busy in second and third weeks of the November, late November – early December worked great for me to beat the crowds. It takes me forever to walk anywhere in here. I will just take a quick detour into one of the many parks and will find myself wondering in the park for at least an hour. Photographing the fall colors is a difficult task. You almost never get a second chance especially if it is almost the end of the fall season. Much can change in just few hours both in terms of color and the density of tree leaves. That is I guess the part of the appeal for me. My favorite location to see the fall colors was the very small woods right behind D. T. Suzuki Museum and the second favorite was the garden right behind Oyama Shrine. While these two spots were not nearly as popular as arguably Japanese finest garden – Kenrouken Garden, I enjoyed the tranquility of these places a lot more compared to relatively packed Kenrouken Garden.
Four Nights Turned Into Nine
As I was approaching the end of my days in Japan and I lost a little bit of focus in Yakushima, I wanted to have one other new stop in Japan before moving onto another country or back to home. That is how I ended up here originally with a four nights plan, quickly turning into a longer stay once the vibe of the city won me over. The quality of my hostel (listed in the tips section below) also had a lot to do with it, not only with its very reasonable pricing policy but with its very cozy and stylish atmosphere as well.
