Just a few short weeks ago I published a report about a drive up the Echizen Coast. If you make the effort to do that, the next major stopping point of interest is beautiful Kanazawa City, and its famous Kenrokuen Park in particular.
I am always surprised by the fact that everyone is keenly aware of its existence but relatively few people outside of tour groups and high school outings have actually made the effort to go. No matter what you do in Kanazawa, you’ll be greeted by smiling faces, a kind of sincerity and maturity you wouldn’t expect and could only wish for back home!
The only thing I wouldn’t recommend doing is going in August. I know I have often touted the Tsuruga Summer Hanabi Taikai festival held each year on August 16, the same day of Daimonji in Kyoto and one of the markers of summer’s end. By the time you get there it feels like not much more of a stretch to get up to Kanazawa, and it really isn’t, but the traffic can be severe and the temperatures unbearable. This picture was taken in August. It is hard to impress upon you how truly demanding it is to walk around the city when it’s 40 degrees Celsius outside! I kid you not.
Go in the spring or in the fall and walk!
Martin Werner Zander
マーティン・ワーナー・ザンダー
Smith’s School of English in Kotoen 月謝制 Real Monthly Tuition English Conversation School
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