Kanazawa, worth knowing.

Fun facts about Kanazawa

1. 1Kanazawa makes about 99% of Japan's gold leaf, so here it ends up everywhere: on crafts, on souvenirs and even on top of your ice cream.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Japan National Tourism Organization
2. 2In Kanazawa's old teahouse district there's a storehouse with platinum leaf on its outer walls and 24-karat gold leaf on the inside. You can walk right in.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Japan Activity
3. 3Kenroku-en has one of Japan's oldest fountains, and it has no pump. The drop from a pond higher up pushes the water about 3.5 metres into the air.Source: japan-guide.com; eye on KANAZAWA
4. 4Every winter Kanazawa dresses its pine trees in rope. Gardeners use up to 800 ropes to tie Kenroku-en's pines into giant cones so heavy snow can't snap the branches.Source: Japan National Tourism Organization; Nippon.com
5. 5Kanazawa's 'Ninja Temple' has nothing to do with ninjas. Myoryuji got the nickname for its trap doors, hidden rooms and maze of stairs, and it's secretly four floors tall.Source: Ishikawa Travel; Wikipedia
6. 6Kanazawa Castle's roofs look white because the tiles are made of lead. Legend says that in a siege they could be melted down into bullets.Source: eye on KANAZAWA; Wikipedia

Things to do in Kanazawa

• ◦Kenroku-en's name means 'garden of six attributes', from spaciousness to antiquity and water. Look for its icon: a stone lantern standing on two legs in the pond.Source: japan-guide.com; Wikipedia
• ◦Higashi Chaya has been a teahouse district since 1820. Here geisha are called geiko, and behind the wooden lattices some teahouses still welcome guests while others became cafes and sweet shops.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Ishikawa Travel
• ◦At Kanazawa's 21st Century Museum, Leandro Erlich's Swimming Pool makes people look like they're standing underwater. Peer in from above, then go down and look up through the water.Source: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; japan-guide.com
• ◦In winter the earthen walls of Nagamachi, Kanazawa's old samurai district, get wrapped in straw mats called komo to protect them from heavy snow. They stay up until early spring.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Nippon.com
• ◦Make your own golden souvenir: gold leaf workshops around Kanazawa let you lay real gold leaf onto chopsticks, small plates or a hand mirror to take home.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Ishikawa Travel
• ◦Order the soft-serve that's only in Kanazawa: vanilla wrapped in a whole sheet of gold leaf. Staff lift the leaf with bamboo chopsticks and lay it on in front of you.Source: Visit Kanazawa; Food in Japan

Questions to bring to Kanazawa

From Sojourn's journeys. Ask one over a long dinner or on a slow walk, and let the place do some of the work.

Going together

• When do you feel most like yourself?
• What does rest actually look like for you?
• What is one thing you wish we did more of?

Going solo

• What is the first thing this place is showing you that you didn't expect?
• What does this version of you know that the home version tends to forget?

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