Friday 28 February 2020
Well, today is the day we were meant to be embarking on an eight day cruise of Japan and Taiwan – on the Diamond Princess – which is currently still in quarantine in Yokohama.
With the three weeks notice of the cruise cancellation that we were given I was able to spend a weekend scrambling to find an alternative for these eight days. The result? Today we are boarding a bullet train, for a two-and-a-half hour ride from Ueno Station to Kanazawa, on the west coast of Honshu.
During my research, I found this website for Kanazawa Station which has fantastic information for sightseeing and dedicated tourist bus services.
We boarded the train, stashed our suitcases and found our reserved seats. Barely any time had passed – probably about 15 minutes or less – when I looked out the window and saw this beautiful sight peeking between buildings.
Whoa…! Two days ago we were there, even standing on Mt Fuji, yet we couldn’t see thing! Then today, 100km away and sitting on a fast moving bullet train we get a clear view of her. And we continue to see her for a while longer as we leave the city and toward a more rural landscape, before she eventually faded into the distance.
With Tokyo far behind, the journey was a lot more scenic through the rural towns with the mountains in the distance.
Almost without realising, we eventually drew closer to the mountains
The landscape changed again as we got closer to Nagano. Snow.
To someone who has rarely seen snow – just twice before today and one of those times was just two days ago – seeing all this snow and mountains is a magical sight.
The train arrived at Kanazawa Station shortly before midday and from there it was a short walk, pushing our suitcases, to our hotel across the road from the station. It was still a little early to check in so we left our luggage there and started walking to Omicho Fish Market.
The Omicho Fish Market does not only have just fish. There is also seafood of all kinds, beef, fruit and veg and also a few little restaurants. Unlike the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo where we were yesterday, this market is inside and undercover and not too crowded, though that could be due to Covid.
After walking around for a little and having some lunch we grabbed one of the Kanazawa tourist buses to return to the station. The bus had just come from the station so we stayed on for a ride of the the entire loop to get a feel for the place and to get a glimpse of where we are going tomorrow. A single ride on the bus is 200 yen and all day pass is 500 yen which I think is great value.
Once back at the hotel we checked in and made our way to our room on the 23rd floor. This hotel is the tallest building in Kanazawa and we are two floors from the top with our room facing the coast and away from the city.
Cancelled cruise aside, today also marks the first time that Covid-19 has affected our time in Japan. Just ten days ago we booked a tour of the Fukumitsuya Sake Brewery for this afternoon but late yesterday afternoon we received an email cancelling the tour due to the virus. This place has been around since the 1600’s and we were really looking forward to the tour. But what can you do?
Later, for dinner, we went back to the railway station which also houses a shopping centre and eateries. We ended up eating at Go Go Curry which is cheap and not too bad. Back at our room the view was great with everything all lit up, this photo including the entrance to the station.
It’s an early night for me so we can begin exploring Kanazawa properly tomorrow.
go someplace 