Kanazawa and Toyama

Although I'm now back in the US (see my previous post), I wanted to give you a short rundown of the trips I took in Japan prior to the move. In the spring and summer I was able to explore Tokyo and the surrounding areas, but Covid-19 kept me from traveling further afield. After an uptick in new cases in Japan toward the end of the summer, the daily case count fell to around 500 during September and October. Life had somewhat returned to normal; people were again going out to shops, restaurants, and bars--not like pre-Covid times, but the city was far busier than the spring.

Graph of the daily case count; compared to the spike at the end of the year, the rise in

late July / August seems minor, but at the time it was a big deal. By October, daily 

new cases had fallen to only around 500, one hundred times less than the US

Unfortunately none of the generous 17 Japanese public holidays were in October, and Culture Day, on November 3, fell on a Tuesday. My next holiday was Monday, November 23, for 'Labor Thanksgiving Day.' (I was saving up my vacation days in case I could visit the US over the New Year's break; at this point I still had no idea I'd be moving back to the US so soon). A buddy of mine was planning to go to Kanazawa and asked if I wanted to join him over the three day weekend. 

Kanazawa is in Ishikawa prefecture on the

west coast of Honshu island

I jumped at the opportunity to see another part of Japan and to travel again. Kanazawa is a city of about half a million on the west coast of Honshu, the largest island. After Kyoto, its old town is one of the best preserved and most well-known in the country. Although Kanazawa isn't on many international visitors' must see lists, it's a popular spot for Japanese tourists. Also, my buddy was going with a group of five other friends, so the trip would be a good chance for me to meet new people

Luckily, during the fall, the Japanese government was promoting domestic tourism via its "Go To Travel" campaign (in its customary 'Japanese English'). The campaign offered discounted train tickets and cash coupons for hotel stays. Normally, I wouldn't take the bullet train due to cost. A full price round trip from Tokyo to Kanazawa, for example, runs about $260. There were a limited number of 50% off Go To Travel tickets, which we didn't get, but we still managed to lock in a 30% discount.

Many Japanese disapproved of the government's decision to launch

a travel campaign during the pandemic. It has since been halted.

The bullet train also made sense as a time saver. Although Kanazawa is only 200 miles from Tokyo by air, this involves crossing the Japanese alps. By car, the roundabout trip through the mountains is over six hours; by bullet train, on the other hand, it was only two and a half. Also, one of the guys we traveled with has family in Kanazawa, and his uncle invited us to stay at his apartment! So although we spent close to $200 on the train tickets, we more than made up for it in free accommodation.

Shinkansen map; Kanazawa is at the end of the line

(finished in 2014). It is due to be extended by next year

Four of us left from Tokyo station on the same train--me, my Spanish friend, another American, and the guy with family in Kanazawa (he is half French, half Japanese). Three other people--a Canadian and two Brits--met us in Kanazawa. We all squeezed into the two bedroom apartment; turns out that the uncle has a house nearby, so he rarely even stays there!

My Spanish friend walking through old town Kanazawa

We left Tokyo Friday evening after work and arrived in Kanazawa close to midnight. The next day, we took the uncle's van and drove to the neighboring prefecture of Toyama, passing the city itself to instead visit the mountains. We took a small tourist train up the mountain; there wasn't much to see at the terminal station, but the views along the way were well worth it. After a brief onsen (Japanese sauna) visit, we drove back to Kanazawa in time for dinner and a night out. Below are a few pictures from Toyama (my Japanese phone camera isn't great; I'll try and get some photos from the others and add more).

The following day we had a much needed late start and then explored the old town, including the Kanazawa Castle Park. Below are a few more photos:

Sunday night we ordered sushi to go and ate at the apartment, and thankfully had a quieter night than Saturday (although we still stayed up late chatting with beer and wine, which was great, since I hadn't spent much face time with friends during the pandemic). The next day we visited our host's new house and explored more of the city, including the 21st century museum of contemporary art. I've never been a big fan of modern art, and let's just say my opinion didn't change after the visit!

That evening we had dinner with the French-Japanese guy's mother and his uncle. The following morning, on Tuesday, my Spanish friend and I had to get up at the crack of dawn for a 7 am shinkansen back to Tokyo. He went straight from Tokyo station to the office. I had a little more sense and took the morning off before working from home that afternoon. The rest of the crew made their way to Tokyo later that day.

If I can get photos from someone else in the group I'll update this post, and soon will also add another entry for my weekend at the Izu peninsula, plus my trip to Okinawa.