kanazawa

went to kanazawa the morning of saturday august 6th and left the morning of monday august 8th. kanazawa is a beautiful city that is a little what youd imagine a japanese city to look like. its got about 500,000 people, is close to the japan sea, has all of the modern japanese amenities that one would expect (ie: kareoke bars, business hotels, shopping arcades, manga internet stops, ect...) with all of the old world japanese charm as well (ie: samurai house district, old gardens and castle grounds, numerous shrines and temples, ect...). some thoughts:

- amanda and i went from nagoya to kanazawa on a seishun juu-hachi kippu, literally an under 18 years old ticket that allows cheap travel on local trains. it took about 4 transfers and 5 hours to get from nagoya to kanazawa but due to extreme japanese train efficiency it went well. additionally, the kanazawa train station is one of the most beautiful ive ever seen...a big wooden shrine covers the entranceway and theres lots of very un-japanese public seating out in front.

- we stayed at a business hotel called the econo which was not bad in location, price, and general niceness

- there was major rainfall when we got there and apparently there was a typhoon happening closeby

- kanazawa is home to kenroku-en, one of japans most famous gardens. japanese gardens are just beautiful and theres so much beautiful scenery in such a small space that you know its something only the japanese could master

- they had an izakaya (japanese pub) district that beats the pants off of any food district ive seen in japan so far...there was great yaki soba, sashimi, stew, and beer to be had there

- there was a tremendous fireworks show in the rain on the first night there that showed why the japanese are the kings and queens of fireworks

- the weather was great on sunday and monday, really hot but lacking the oppressive humidity of nagoya

overall, a great few days in kanazawa and its a city id recommend to anybody who ever visited japan. i know that ecc doesnt have any schools there but if they ever opened one up there id definately like to get transferred to that city.