I spent 3 nights in Kanazawa
Rating: A+ Human-sculpted nature that was artistic, serene, and naturally beautiful.
The garden is large. I only took a few pictures. I found out that if you show up to the park an hour or two before official opening time, you get in for free and there are much fewer people. I showed up early and it was totally worth it.
Video of Kenroku-en Garden.
Video of a stream. I liked how the water rippled.
Video of a big pond in the middle of the garden.
Rating: A Large with many examples and explanations of castle construction techniques.
The princess had her own house in back of the castle and her own garden. The most interesting thing was that there were three bridges: the stone bridge (back left), the wood bridge (back right), and the moss bridge (front left) on which live moss was grown atop the edges.
A university inhabited the castle grounds for many years before the castle was recently restored. They created a nature trail at one side for students and faculty to enjoy.
Video of the university nature trail at Kanazawa Castle.
More information on the Kanazawa Castle website.
Rating: A
It's an easy, one-hour class that you can do sitting down, in AC/heat, after lots of walking. It was 100% in Japanese but I could follow along with no problems. And you get to eat it afterwards, yum. Other classes include applying gold leaf to an item of your choice, painting a small Japanese ceremic doll, and other crafts (depending on time of year).
This entire sculpture was made from candy, located in the same building as the mochi class.
More information on the Ishikawa Local Products Center website.
Rating: B
No pictures allowed, of course. If you are interested in this museum (which is in Kenroku-en Garden), you will have to visit the garden during normal hours (and pay the entrance fee) to coincide with museum hours. For those people who look at the museum's website and get excited about what they see, this museum is probably a good choice. The museum had some nice looking pieces, and there was some explanation for how they made some of these crafts and why the styles changed over time. I can't put my finger on why I wasn't thrilled enough to rate it an A.
Me in an artistic interpretation of an early 20th century Japanese style phone booth.
More information on the Ishikawa Museum of Traditional Arts and Crafts website.
Rating: A
The entire shop is nothing but origami, it was an accidental find as I was walking to someplace else, and it was totally worth my time. I stopped here just to buy a gift for a friend but the sheer number of unique origami displays was astounding. Their products include kits, with instructions and origami paper, some of which the shop staff designed themselves. They have tables in the store for people to sit and do their crafting, and they teach classes.
More information on the Arakigami website and more photos at Google.
Rating: B Interesting but not a must-see
Video of a gardenscape at one of the temples in Kanazawa.
More information on the unofficial website (the official one wouldn't pull up).
Rating: A (qualified below)
Many cities including Kanazawa, Osaka, and Kyoto have large markets like this. If you've seen one, you've seen them all ... seriously. But you SHOULD see one - go there for lunch or dinner and expect not-cheap restaurant prices. Markets are a maze of multiple streets/halls/branches that stretch for many blocks in multiple directions and are covered from rain and sun. There are very few places to sit and the restrooms are never centrally located so be prepared for that. They mostly sell food - some is prepackaged, produce, etc. but most can be cooked to order street vendor style. If you purchase prepared/cooked food, you are expected to eat it at the place you purchased it (unless you pack it away for later) and you are discouraged from eating while walking or eating food in front of another vendor. Depending on the market, they can also have shops that sell flowers, clothes, souviners, umbrellas, etc. They are always super crowded. Prices do not change much between vendors so if you see some food you want, you might as well buy it immediately. But there will be several vendors selling the same thing (especially seafood) so if you don't like the look of one vendor's products, you'll probably find another selling the same thing.
