Hakutaka Shinkansen from Nagano to Kanazawa.
Snowy back street in Kanazawa.
We spent five days in the Japanese north-east city of Kanazawa (pop. 462k) in Ishikawa Prefecture. It's a coastal city, abutting the Sea of Japan, but we didn't make it to the actual seashore. In those five days we've had almost continous snowfalls, with gigantic soggy snowflakes, frequent gale-force winds and occasional lightening and thunder. In between all that, a few short bursts of watery sunshine and even a splash of blue sky. Temperatures are about zero, which means the accumulating snow is sometimes dry, sometimes very slushy.
Heavy snow at Kanazawa Station bus terminal.
Remarkable digital "water fountain" clock at Kanazawa Station.
Weather science is complicated, of course, but it's amazing to see so much snow in Kanazawa when it's latitude is about the same as Melbourne, and both cities are at sea level! Melbourne never sees weather like this, and what is notable is that the city soldiers on despite abysmal conditions for drivers and pedestrians alike. Traffic in this city seems to be quite heavy, as befitting its population, but is very orderly, respectful and careful.
A touch of blue sky over the mountains behind Kanazawa and the Saigawa River.
No respite from the snow for traffic on the Saigawa Ohashi Bridge.
To our eyes, the city itself is not coping with these conditions. We haven't seen any attempts at road clearing - the vehicles have to do that, and the only footpath clearing is by adjacent residents and businesses using big shovels. It looks like the city is not used to these conditions - locals are out taking photographs and selfies, but on the other hand, there is a comprehensive system of spinklers built into roads and footpaths which flood the area and help to wash slush away, and slow down freezing. It's just not coping with this snowy onslaught and the slush is quite aggravated by all this extra water. If it is not already, as this accumulation melts we think Kanazawa will become the world capital of road slops, a term we first heard in St. Louis when that southern city also failed to deal with unaccustomed snowfalls.
Kanazawa's ubiquitous sprinkler system, a blessing and a curse.
We first arrived in Kanazawa on the fabulous Hokuriku Shinkansen or bullet train, from Matsumoto. Having crossed the country from Tokyo, our train headed south-west to Kanazawa. We could see the coast on the right, with snowy mountains on the left, and we headed into the snow storm. The shinkansen pushed on regardless at 2-300km/hr, but that same day a JR train got trapped in a snow drift nearby, according to the news.
Spectactular entrance gate, a tsuzumi drum, at Kanazawa Station.
Illuminated artwork after dark outside Kanzawa Station.
Kanazawa has an architecturally stunning railway station (aren't they all?), a development project from when the shinkansen arrived here in 2015 (the first train station here was built in 1898) and a vast wooden tsuzumi (hourglass shaped "drum") gate sculpture on the eastern exit has become an iconic symbol of the city. The Hotel Kanazawa is right next door to the station, but given the blinding snowstorm on our arrival, it was surprisingly hard to find (especially since another half-dozen hotels nearby all have the name 'Kanazawa').
The Hotel Kanazawa at sunset.
We found a very welcome coin-laundry only about 100m from the hotel. It was a very slushy walk to get there, but getting some needed washing done during heavy snowstorms was a good use of our time.
Coin Laundry on Asanogawa River, but not the one we used.
The sights of Kanazawa are a kilometer or two away from the station, and ploughing through road slops where the footpath ought to be is not for the faint hearted. Kerb areas are especially perilous. But we discovered an excellent bus service operates around town, and in particular there is a One Day Pass (JPY500 ea) which covers a number of bus routes including sightseeing loops. Or JPY200 for a single-ride.
Kale enjoys these conditions.
The loop buses run every 15 minutes in both directions in daylight hours, and what a pleasure to use them! They are popular with tourists and locals. There are two or three large video displays on each bus showing and announcing the route, the next stop and the highlights at that stop, in both Japanese and English. Like most Japanese buses, you get on at the back door, and get off (and pay the driver) at the front door.
Sadly, passengers have to get on and off buses into deep and wet road slops. We saw a number of falls. No-one is clearing the mess from bus stops except at a few locations. The bus journeys themselves are very bumpy as they negotiate icy slops which gravitate into piles at intersections.
Fresh layers of snow on trees at Kanzawa Castle.
Door detail, at Kanazawa Castle.
Under threatening skies and with steady light snow falling, we had a big walk around the delightful Kenroku-en Garden, one of Japan's "three great gardens" and certainly a source of much delight even in such inclement weather. The garden was developed over 220 years from 1620, and is attached (well, now over a busy road from) to Kanazawa Castle. Its iconic feature is the Kotoji Toro, a two-legged stone lantern. A fee is charged for admission, but as "seniors", we got in for nothing! The park is quite hilly, featuring ponds, waterfalls, pagodas and shrines, and dozens of park gardeners were being kept busy while we were there digging out bridges, paths and stairways, shaking snow out of overloaded trees, and basically trying to make the place safe for us and hundreds of other visitors.
Monochromatic treescape at Kenroku-en Garden.
Pavillion, lake and iconic Kotoji Toro at Kenroku-en Garden.
Tree de-snowing in Kenroku-en Garden.
Fellow photographer, trying to make the best of the snowy conditions.
Snowbound in Kenroku-en Garden.
The name Kanazawa means "marsh of gold", so called after a peasant digging for potatoes found some gold flakes. This has become of great significance to city, with a least a few gold leaf outlets around selling gold-coloured arts and crafts, and even "edible gold" coated icecream. We enjoyed one of these in the Higashi Chaya District. Whatever the edible gold is, it's not very tasty.
We had a good walk around that Higashi Chaya ("chaya" means "market") District when it wasn't snowing too heavily. Many historical Geisha tea-houses survive there, mostly because Kanazawa was not bombed during WW2, and the old buildings have been maintained or restored. Some ceremonies can still be seen there, but mostly the enclave is a haven for trendy cafes, crafts shops (gold leaf products in particular), and we had a nice lunch and rest there at the bar in a tiny cafe.
Streetscape in the central part of Higashi Chaya.
Edo period machiya, a Geisha museum in Higashi Chaya.
Housing detail in Higashi Chaya.
A pleasure to see some green in wintery Higashi Chaya.
Sake house had some rowdy customers.
Shrine in Higashi Chaya district.
Golden ice-creams were a big hit in Higachi Chaya.
Another district in Kanazawa is the Naga-machi area, down a steep hill from the very upmarket shopping district of Korinbo. Two small rivers, roughly parallel, rush through this area which was populated by well-to-do samurai used to live. The quite large houses in this area have been restored in traditional style, which basically means their external compund walls are rock and simulated mud, the lower halves of which covered in straw mats komo which protect the mud walls from annual flooding. A whole neighbourhood of this style is quite appealing.
Fast flowing creek defines the boundary of Naga-machi district.
Upmarket housing in Naga-machi District.
Housing detail in Naga-machi.
Rock and (simulated) mudwall, plus straw matting, the defining characteristic of samurai housing.
On the morning of our eventual departure from Kanazawa, guess what? The sun was out, the sky was blue, and it looked like a great day was brewing to give the city a chance to clean up. How beautiful Konroku-en Garden would look this morning. But we're off to Hiroshima on an early train schedule, and would miss all that.
Exterior facade of Omi-cho Market.
Crabs on display at Omi-cho Market.
Fish for sale at Omi-cho Market.
We doubt whether this lady is celebrating the cold weather outside the market place.
No comments:
Post a Comment