Sayonara 🥺

Wednesday 1st November

Well, this is it …. Our last day in this amazing country…… as always, I don’t want to leave, I never want to leave.

After much huffing and puffing last night, we managed to get everything in the suitcases…. Only just! Scott is amazed that there are still things left for me to buy in Japan…. He assumed I had bought everything last time we were here.  Ah dear - there is always something new to buy.

So here we are in the Kansai Airport Hotel finishing the blog with a heavy heart. I am feeling very blue…..

For our last day, we had a choice of going to Kyoto for the day or Osaka as both are on the route to the airport.  We decided to stop off in Osaka as most things to see in Kyoto are quite a distance for the station and we only really had a couple of hours to mooch. 

We’ve been to Osaka before (about 2012) and thought it was OK.  At the time, it wasn’t really our kind of place - it’s very much for the young party-goer… lots of bars and restaurants.  However now….. I hate to say this, but it is awful.  It completely crowded, like scary crowded, couldn’t move and it was dirty and not anywhere close to being like the Japan I love so much.

We wanted to try some food, but there was nowhere to sit and eat it…. Everyone is just sitting in the street or walking and eating …..

I did get a shot of the Glico man . . . 

….but it was hard to stop and take pictures of anything, so this was all I got.  We only managed a couple of hours here before we gave up and ran away.

Got the Hello Kitty Haruka train back to the airport and here we are.

Our flight is at 11 tomorrow and I am currently the saddest person in Japan.  It has been an amazing two weeks which has gone by soooooo quickly.  We’ve seen some new things and revisited some old places.  Kanazawa is still and always will be our favourite place…. Yes there are tourists and it’s a tourist area, but it’s not busy and still very relaxed.  I love it that we are in a place where we can take each day in its stride and not have to run around to see as many things as we can …. We’re too old for that now haha.  

So early night for us as we have to be up in the morning. Might get the last few minutes of my weird Japanese TV fix (I’m gonna miss that)…. And last chance to hit the duty free shop tomorrow - just don’t tell Scott 😂😂😂.

See you all soon xxx

Tea Ceremony (2nd time)

Tuesday 31st October

So - in August, when the Geisha evening dates were announced, I got all excited and book the night … which I did last week.  However, at the time, there were another two events showing for the other Geisha districts ….. last week I went to a tea ceremony in Nishi-Chaya… today, I’m going to one in Kazue-Chaya

Yes, I know it’s the same thing as last week, but I got over excited at the time and didn’t read them properly….. and just booked everything.  The scary part was, the young interpreter lady (Aya san) now recognises me and so does the tea master 😬. Well, there’s worse people to be remembered by ……

The tea ceremony as slightly different, though it was with the same master but the Geisha were different.  Each district has different Geisha, or Geiko as they are called in Kanazawa.

These two Geiko did two beautiful dances… I still can’t get over how graceful they move and how every move means something.  

After the dancing and singing, we could ask questions…. I had asked all my questions earlier, so I let everyone else have a go.

I’ve been to so many events, that Aya san has sent me an email asking me for feedback on all three events and what differences or improvements can be made.  Apparently, this is only the second year for the tea ceremonies, tho the Geisha evening with Lady Baba has been going for a while.

These three Geiko events have been the highlight of the holiday and I don’t regret going to all three …. If we were here in November, I would have booked for the Geiko Autumn dances ….. hmmm - I could stay a while longer!

On a sad note - this is our last full day in Kanazawa.  Tomorrow we have to leave this lovely house and make our way to the airport.  Our flight is not until Thursday morning, but we can’t get a train early enough to get us here in time, so we are staying in the airport hotel tomorrow night.

So back to the house to contemplate packing …. I swore I didn’t buy too much, but there appears to be an awful lot of ‘extra’ things to go in the suitcase.  I am not popular 😬.

We’ll get it all in …. Until tomorrow xx

Quiet Day for us ….

Sunday 30th October 

Hmm - well this was an odd and very quiet day. We’d been seeing signs all over the place this week for the Kanazawa Marathon …. And it was on today. If only we knew earlier, but the applications closed in April.  Damn … maybe next time.😂😂😂

However, this meant we were a little stuck for the best part of the day. All the major routes were closed and the station was heaving of strange people preparing for the run …. 

There were a lot of people all over with spectators as well.  I felt a bit sorry for the tourists who came to Kanazawa for the day only to find they were stuck and couldn’t really get anywhere …. Unless you walked through the crowds.

On the plus side  - it’s a very strict marathon.  All round the course, there are 7  heck points and if you don’t get to each checkpoint in time, you are asked to leave the marathon so it wasn’t going to drag on all day …. But it’s a bit harsh if you are dressed as Pikachu and only trained for three days 。😬

So we only really got out later in the afternoon for a walk to get some supplies and dodge the raindrops ….. although we didn’t do much, it wasn’t a problem as we needed a bit of a rest and some recovery time for the week.

Well done to everyone who ran the marathon …. 

Until tomorrow xxx

Yamanaka Onsen

Monday 30th October (Day 11)

Another day out and about.  We got up nice and early as we were going to spend the day in Yamanaka Onsen.

Yamanaka Onsen is a well known hot spring town nestled in the mountains in the city of Kaga.  The Daishoji River runs through it and it’s a very popular holiday spot for the Japanese to come and relieve their aches and pains in the hot springs.

To get there, it would take a walk to the station, a trip on the Thunderbird train (are you all humming the tune to the Thunderbirds now😂😂?) and a 30 minute trip on a local bus.

We eventually got there and it’s such a pretty place. Very oldly worldly and traditional.  Just the way we liked it.  It was also very quiet , the weather was perfect and we never saw another foreign tourist all day ….. perfect!

We walked through the town because what we really wanted to do was walk through the Gorge (we like a gorge). It was beautiful….. we were able to get right down by the river and walk along the path.

I was just starting to get a bit thirsty, when though the trees we saw some red umbrellas ….. it was only a little cafe…. Yippee…. I got an iced matcha with mochi sweets and Scott got a coffee.  We got two cups of green tea as well…. I had both of them. We had them while looking out at the river …. Pretty much a perfect day …..

Off we went again and the next stop was Basho’s but. Basho was a famous Haiku poet who spent much of his time sitting in his hut watching the river and thinking up his poems.  I could do that - except that time has moved on and now in front of his hut is a public toilet ….  Not quite the inspiration of old!!!

We walked for miles and miles …. Well about 2km…. We walked the white path.

By now it’s getting quite late and we’ve got a long way to get back to Kanazawa… so back on the bus and the Thunderbird…… ended up getting home quite late so it was a chill out and some food.

Until tomorrow xxx

Getting my Geek On

Saturday 28th October (Day 9)

OK - nightmare scenario …. It’s bouncing down and according to the forecast, it’s going to be raining all bloody day ….. 

So - indoor activities today it is then …..

I follow a guy on Twitter (X) who lives in Kanazawa …. He’s a Brit from up our way and although he supports Newcastle, he’s a nice guy and knows a lot about Kanazawa.  He mentioned some time ago that they have a new library which is state of the art and very pretty.  Who could resist ….

So - as it’s raining and I enjoy a book or two ….. it was time to get my geek on and find this library.  Well, Scott found it …. And armed with umbrellas … off we went.

The Library was about 20 minutes away on the bus … but it was worth every second.  It is HUGE!  It has over 300,000 books and 500 reading seats.  There’s a small museum area which shows works from the students from the Art University over the road, a large theatre which was showing some kind of kids thing when we got there, a cafe and a huge archive\reference room.  Best of all, chatting and conversations are allowed in most areas of the library, tho there are ‘quiet’ areas for reading and studying.

It was nice to see kids running around and making a noise in a library and in the kids section was an Activity Center and a decent size play area with climbing frame.

There are books in all languages… there’s a big section at the top of English books ranging from Stephen King to Dickens and some Sherlock Holmes’s and a lot of Japanese author books translated into English. They also have the book I’ve just finished reading …. They also had two complete sets of the Encyclopaedia Britannica which fascinated Scott ….. I had to pull him away as he started reading the A’s …. We could’ve been there a while 😂.

It was soooo tempting to grab a book and find one of those comfy chairs and make myself at home ….. I could have still been there now …..

It’s still raining, no no, it’s bouncing . . .  Plan B now in action.  It’s back to the Mega Donki to look at the places we missed last time.  Managed to do some very specific shopping for a young lady back home …. Could have gone completely wild, but I had to keep thinking of the suitcase …. Oh blimey!

Coming home, we saw signs and loads of tents set up around the are and remembered it’s Kanazawa Marathon tomorrow, looks like roads will be closed and it’ll be quite busy, so might have a rest day tomorrow…..

We’ll see what happens . . . 

Until tomorrow xxx

Tea Master and More Geisha

Friday 28th October (Day 8)

Another special day today …. This is the second of the ‘experience traditional Kanazawa’ events that I planned months ago. After booking the Geisha evening and Lady Baba, I found other traditional events happening in October. . . .  Cue the credit card and the calendar.

These are all happening through the ‘Art of Geisha’ programme throughout Kanazawa which allows tourists to see the usually closed Tea Houses and allow them to interact with Geisha.  First timers are not allowed to just enter a tea house, they need to be recommended by someone who has been going to the tea house for many years and is very respected ….. as I know no-one with those references, this programme is ideal for me.

This event is slightly different to the Geisha evening as this is a Tea Ceremony.  Bonus - I could take pictures of this one!

The first part (Tea Ceremony) took place in the actual Tea Masters house.  There was only 10 people in the first part as it’s only a small room.  We are all now sitting on the floor watching the Master at work.  His movements and actions are taken with care and absolute precision.  Every move he makes has a reason. …. It is perfection and completely mesmerising.

We then get our own tray and cup to make our own Tea.  It’s not as easy as it looks…. It’s all about how to whisk the tea.

After making the tea, we could eat the sweet and drink up…. Absolutely delicious.

We were then moved to another tea house where Geisha would perform for us.  This Geisha area specialising in playing the flute …. And we had a lovely performance of Geisha playing traditional tunes.

Another Geisha came out to dance.  Again, the moves were perfect and so precise 

The Geisha that was dancing then came out with Taiko drums and played …. Again, she was amazing.

We then had a little time to ask the ladies questions but we all had so many questions that we went a bit overtime!!!

Again, Scott as waiting for me when we finished.

As we were in Nishi-Chaya, we were pretty close to the center of town.  There’s a real mixed bag of shops here… we go from department stores to vintage shops to Daiso (100yen shop) to designer shops …. Tiffany, Rolex, Versace, Bulgari etc. We,  being simple folk, found the nearest Tokyu Hands, my favourite shop, and wandered round there…. May have bought a couple of things … Shhhh. 

It’s now getting a bit late, I’m hungry and it’s raining again, so we made our way home.  Although we haven’t done that much, it’s still been an exciting day stuffed full of amazing memories.

Until tomorrow xxx

Lady Baba and the Geisha

Thursday 27th October (Day 7)

This is going to be a mixed day…. After having a long old day at the Gorge, we wanted to take it a bit easy today and …. I had an appointment later in the evening that I was not going to miss.

So first off, it was a late start and we just had a wander round the castle grounds to see the Japanese gardens in the grounds.  These are called strolling gardens and are immaculately kept.  The weather was nice so we ended up having a couple of hours walk around.

We passed the ‘eggs’ that are lit up on an evening and they look very different during the day … almost like Godzillas nest ….. 

So back home via the Combini where I got my first dumplings of the season …. Love these so much.  You buy them from the heated from the warmer, so they are ready to eat straight away …. I got a pork bun and a pizza bun…. Sooooo good!

Food sorted… and now get changed for the Geisha evening.  I have wanted to do this event for years, but we have never been in Kanazawa at the right time.  But we are in the right place at the right time this year . . . . . 

So off to Higashi-chaya to a traditional tea house…this is the real I am….. and I am now beyond excited.  Scott dropped me off and went off to find something to do for the next couple of hours.  He didn’t come because he can’t sit on the floor and he’s not such a big fan of the Geisha …. Shocking!

The event started with a cup of matcha tea.  I could take photos here, but that was it …. No photos allowed in the main room with the Geisha.

I had booked my seat for tonight months ago and I was in the front row right in front of the little stage… I could almost reach out and touch them …. But I didn't, cos I’m a good girl ….

The event is run by the Landlady of the Tea House… Lady Baba.  She introduced the Geisha and gave a history on the kimono, make up, the tea houses, Kanazawa and the life of a Geisha.  She was very funny and held my attention completely.  We then had a cup of Sake to celebrate the new evening and start of the night.

Then came the gorgeous ladies …. Two of them were entertaining us tonight.  One played the shamisen and the other danced.  They were perfect. The dance moves were exquisite and she seemed to float on the tatami mats.

They then played the Taiko Drums which was also impressive. When she finished, she got a couple of the girls in the audience to come and play with her.

Next, the girls relaxed a bit and played some games …. Drinking games!  They got a couple of lads from the audience to play the games with them - very funny.

The two hours were over waaaay too quickly and it felt like no time before we had to leave - plus the two Geisha had other business appointments to go to that night.

Although I couldn’t take any pictures, this night will stay in my memories for a long time to come ….. it was everything I hoped it was going to be and more.

Scott was waiting for me when it finished and I floated home ……

Got something else planned for tomorrow . . .  So until then xx