The highlight of my time in Kanazawa was indisputably Kenrokuen Garden, one of the top three gardens in Japan, and Kanazawa’s main draw for tourists. There you really get a sense for how exacting and complicated creating perfect simplicity is, which I felt gave me a much deeper insight into Japanese aesthetics and culture. There is also a famous ninja visit, which I chose to skip, and an excellent contemporary art museum that I spent all of a morning in. It was nice to be in a smaller city for a change, Kanazawa has a population of about 400,000, so about 2/3 the size of Baltimore. I had a nice and quiet stay there, in a hostel full of lovely people, happy to be back on my own.
From Kanazawa I headed to Kameoka, a little town right outside of Kyoto where I would be staying with a family connection for a week. That family connection was Fukiko, who truly made my stay with her my favorite part of my trip to Japan. While I was there I saw Fushimi-Inari shrine, Tofukuji Temple, Nijo Castle, the Silver Pagoda, took a day trip to Nara and more, but it never felt rushed, and at the end of each (often hot and rainy) day I would take the train back to Kameoka and be greeted by a smiling Fukiko at the train station to take me home, a comfortable place that had the overwhelming pleasures of both privacy and delish homemade Japanese food. I loved Kyoto and Kameoka, both places felt calmer than the giant cities I had visited, and connected to Japans rich and ancient past. It didn’t hurt that I got to watch magnificent storks and herons soaring of bright green rice fields daily.
Kyoto is where I was invited on stage during a recital to sight read Beethoven, where I followed the “Philosophers Path” and saw a butterfly big and dark enough to be a bat, where I felt a real and alive connection to the parts of Japanese culture I most wanted to be connected to.
After my amazing stay in Kameoka I took a short detour to Shizuoka for 2 nights, a city famous for its views of Mt. Fuji. My mountain gazing dreams were crushed though, as it was cloudy both days I was there. Disappointing!
And then I took the Shinkansen, the bullet train, to Tokyo, the heartbeat of it all, the center of modern Japan. I was a little overwhelmed, mostly due to my burnout, which was understandable four months into an insane around-the-world trip. I still liked Tokyo though, and if I had to live in a giant city, I would be happy to spend some time in that mega-opolis. I loved how the buildings felt like they were some much more than functional, how safe I felt, the excellent public transportation, the little places of history left untouched by the skyscrapers, temples sitting somehow comfortably next to 30 floor office buildings. I liked the earthquakes, and the women dressed in kimonos, both young and old, though seemingly never middle aged.
For me the highlight of Tokyo was the view from the top of the Government Metropolitan Building, one of the only observation decks in the city you don’t have to pay to access. Stepping out of the elevator and seeing those giant windows with Tokyo stretched out before me gave me a real jolt. The Ota Memorial Museum, with its current collection of Hokusai’s manga was also excellent.
I was staying in a lovely hostel in Asakusa, one of the areas of Tokyo that is older, and isn’t filled with towering shopping malls. It was a nice area, although insanely crowded during the day, and the giant paper lantern near the subway stop was a fun landmark.