Tabemono Itinerary – Kanazawa Part 5 – Higashi Chaya, Kazuemachi Chaya, and Oden Yamasan

After our amazing lunch at an almost 90-year sushi master, we headed back to our hotel to regroup and continue with our sightseeing of Kanazawa. We then headed to Kanazawa Station to catch our bus to head over to the chaya district. In the Edo period, chayas are a type of restaurant, usually tea houses, where guests are entertained by geisha who sing and dance. Kanazawa has several chaya districts with Higashi Chaya being the largest and most preserved from the Edo period. It is very similar to Gion in Kyoto, only not as packed with tourists.

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Tabemono Itinerary – Kanazawa Part 4 – Almost 90 Year Old Sushi Grandmaster Kazuo Morita at Komatsu Yasuke

After getting breakfast and lunch for our children in Omicho Market in the last post, it is onto a sushi lunch date with my wife. Kanazawa has many top-level sushi restaurants, but there is only one Kazuo Morita. At the time when we visited his restaurant, Komastsu Yasuke (小松弥助), he was 85 years old. Our concierge at the Nikko Hotel helped us make reservations 3 months in advance. I have heard this is the typical time needed as it is very difficult to get reservations. It is open only for lunch.

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Tabemono Itinerary – Kanazawa Part 3 – Omicho Market for Breakfast

Continued from the last post about Kanazawa. One of my favorite areas to target in the various Japan cities are their fish and fresh food markets, for both the variety of seafood and vegetables. Omicho Market is Kanazawa’s largest food market and was established during the Edo period (over 280 years ago). What I love about Omicho market is that the streets and stalls are enclosed in a covered building. The market spans several large streets and houses over 200 shops and stalls. We arrived at around 9:30 am. My wife and I actually have lunch reservations, so the market was more for our kid’s breakfast and lunch.

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Tabemono Itinerary – Kanazawa Part 1 – Castle and Kenroku-En Garden

After Karuizawa, our next stop along the Hokuriku Shinkansen was Kanazawa. Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, and one of Japan’s richest and affluent areas during the Edo Period. It is often an overlooked designation by foreign travelers, but not by the Japanese themselves. In many sense, Kanazawa reminded me of the rich heritage that Kyoto has, such as ancient buildings, temples, and Geisha districts, but with fewer tourist and smaller crowds, creating a more relaxing destination.

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Tabemono Vacation June 2017 Itinerary – 3 weeks in Japan and through the Japan Alps Loop

I have not updated my blog in a long while since I have been planning, preparing, and finally going on our fourth trip to Japan in June 2017.  Like last year’s summer vacation in Hokkaido, we wanted somewhere in Japan relatively cooler as it can get hot and humid in the summers of Japan.  This time we decided to focus our trip on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and decided to do a loop, which consists of:

Kanazawa -> Toyama-> Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route -> Matsumoto-> Kamikochi -> Takayama -> Shirakawgo -> Kanazawa

In fact, we did a bigger loop the whole trip as we started in Tokyo, travelled to Karuizawa, then did our loop mentioned above,  and then wrapped up the trip with visits to Kaga Onsen, Nagayo, and back to Tokyo.

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