Hello, everyone! It's been so long since my last entry in this series but I
never forgot about chronicling my 2023 Japan adventure 🎌 I'm going to
continue sharing my travels with you; I've dedicated my writing time for the
next six weeks to this endeavor! I hope you'll enjoy reading until the end of
the journey.
Click here to read the previous entry in this series.
So, on the eighth day of our adventure (I think? It's hard to figure with
crossing the dateline and being awake when we'd normally sleep and such 🤔) we
visited Kanazawa, and with our newfound courage, we not only participated in
the ship-sponsored shore excursion, but did some exploring on our own! Today's
post will focus on the excursion, which included a samurai house, geisha
district, and modern art museum.
Tuesday 21 March 2023 - Kanazawa Shore Excursion
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The beautiful sunrise as our ship neared the shores of Kanazawa.
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The cruise terminal in Kanazawa.
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They actually had a sign with our ship's name on and everything!
A
little touch like that made me feel especially welcome 🥰
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This awesome suit of armor was just inside the house, as if to greet
you!
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A big feature of the house was its small but splendid garden.
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Always lovely to spot a koi 🐟
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Extra exciting for me was a collaboration with the new anime adaptation
of
My Happy Marriage!
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This standee features the character
Tatsuishi Kouji, the main character's childhood friend ❤️
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After the samurai neighborhood, we visited
Higashi Chaya, an old geisha district, and did some shopping! This is one of the
gold leaf shops we visited:
HAKUZA hikari-gura. There were many such shops because Kanazawa is famous for its gold
leaf. The "kana" part of Kanazawa even means "gold"!
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We bought some tasty treats and souvenirs for people back home at this
matcha shop,
Sawawa.
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I was excited to come across this Shinto shrine,
Higashiyama Sugawara Shrine, as it was the first one I got to visit during this trip! I
offered my prayers to the resident god (kamisama) and received a good
fortune in return 😊
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The top of the fortune has a waka poem, followed by a general fortune,
and your luck type (I believe mine is the lowest possible good, which is
literally not bad!). The final sections address specific areas, such as
desires, lost items, studies, illness, etc. The back also has a longer
message of wisdom from the kamisama.
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This clever piece changes every moment, as the large square hole makes
the entire room a frame for the sky! It's titled
Blue Planet Sky, designed by James Turrell. There's seating all around the room, so
you can sit and really enjoy the dreamy effect.
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So nice to get to see this whimsical sculpture on a cloudy day!
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It seemed our cruise was perfectly timed to enjoy the sakura in most of
the places we visited!
This is me and my husband, Sean, posing with
one of the museum's trees.
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I wanted to enter this installation, but, as you can see, it was very
popular, especially with energetic kids! It's called
Colour Activity House
and was made by Olafur ELIASSON.
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This is another piece I would have liked to try, but it's specifically designed
for kids, so I left it to them 😉 It's titled
Wrapping
and was made by Fernando Romero.
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One thing I DID do was get a selfie in this awesome sculpture! It took
some digging but I discovered it is a commemorative piece made for the
museum's 10th anniversary in 2016. It's called Spherical Pavilion “MARU”
and was designed by Sejima Kazuyo and Nishizawa Ryue.
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After this, we returned to our ship and prepared to explore the city on our
own. I must say, I expected to share our Kanazawa adventures in a single post,
but the research necessary to write knowledgeably about our excursion was a
huge undertaking! I hope you'll check out some of these places if you get the
chance to visit Kanazawa yourself 😊 I'll be back soon with the next entry in
this series. Until then, please stay happy, healthy, and safe!
