Wednesday, October 13, 2010

GO TO 金沢!

Vacation #1!

Destination: 金沢 Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken (prefecture)
Date: Sep. 18-20 (Sat-Mon)
Cost: ¥22,000 - ¥24,000

Highlights:
5-hour train ride!
View of (not the ocean, but) Lake Biwako
it's humongous O_O
Kanazawa JR (Japan Railways) Station
Local streets
random art :)
cool building in the shopping district~
Kenroku-en
Shirakawa-go 
Late Summer in Shirakawa~
Light Festival & other special events
we watched dance performances by local college groups at this festival.. めっちゃ楽しかった~ (meccha tanoshikatta, very enjoyable)
Accommodations:
(all reserved through Hostelworld.com, all heartily recommended, especially Pongyi and Namaste~)
Guest House Pongyi
Guesthouse Namaste
Ryokan Shibaya

Summary:
I wouldn't consider Kanazawa an "essential" stop if your time in Japan is short, but for a last-minute planned trip (don't wanna waste those 3-day weekends...), it was nice~  Shirakawa-go (about an hour-long bus ride from Kanazawa, round trip¥3200) is definitely worth a visit if you're in the area!  The sights can be seen, in a fairly relaxed manner, in about 3-4 hours...but if you want to spend longer there (which you might, it's really lovely~), it's not hard at all. :)

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