The Japanese Adventure - Day 20-22, Kanazawa

Man, the rainy season really did kick in! O.O It has not stopped all day today. But that didn't prevent us from going to the old entertainment quarter of Kanazawa to look at the gold leaf shops and tea houses. We had delicious omurice for lunch, and then went for tea (can't remember the name of the tea but it was... brown ^^;;) and gold-leaf walnut meringues. :9 Chayagai is a beautiful old district, all wood buildings - it smelt wonderful, very atmospheric! It was pretty quiet, probably cos of the rain, but it was great to see it - all the places I've been so far in Japan have been fairly modern (by and large, I've been staying in cities that suffered in WWII), so it's amazing to finally see some more evocative buildings. The other day I also had a wander around the samurai district - little narrow streets with big old houses with high walls. It was really fun to just wander around! I've had a lot of fun just walking around the places I've visited, getting a feel for them. Kanazawa has such a lot of character, it's probably the best place to explore I've seen here!

We also visited Myoryuji today - aka, the Ninja temple! It doesn't really have anything to do with ninjas, but it was full of cubby holes and secret passages that the samurai could lurk in if under attack. It felt quite like an English castle, it was really interesting!

Yesterday was a day of firsts! I had my first Osaka-style okonomiyaki (I actually preferred Hiroshima-style), then in the evening I got Amelia to take me to two things I've really wanted to do since I got here, but you can't do alone - yakiniku, and karaoke! :D Yakiniku was sooooo good - davechan, you'd love it - it involves meat and fire, two of your favourite things! :9 The beef was unbelievably delicious, but it was so filling! Man, I've eaten so much over the past few days. ^^' Then we, ah, did 5 hours of karaoke! I sang a lot of K8 songs. #^^# We also did Yorokobi no Uta, which is actually a very easy song to sing! Or would be if I knew more kanji. ^^' Also did a bunch of GW songs, for nostalgia value!, and a load of other anime songs. Though I forgot about Tell Me Why! XD Need to see if they have that next time... ^_~

The day before that I went to Kenrokuen, the big garden in Kanazawa that's one of Japan's top three. I've seen one of the other two, in Takamatsu, and Kenrokuen is miles better than that! The azaleas and irises were still out, and there are some beautiful ponds and streams and waterfalls, and a teahouse where I had a nice sencha and watched a heron by the pond from the veranda. It was absolutely gorgeous. ♥ I spent ages there, then I had a look in a museum of arts and crafts of Kanazawa - lots of gold leaf, as that's what the area is famous for. I really enjoyed the museum, too - I think I was suffering from a museum deficiency, lol - I'd not been in one for, like, nearly 2 weeks! @_@ I felt so much more fulfilled after I'd been in there!

So all in all, Kanazawa is delightful, I really like it here! And m00nface is looking after me very well. ♥ I can't believe how quickly three days has gone! ;_;

Now to continue certain auction-based research, and maybe type up some stuff. :3