We started the day with a 500 yen breakfast at a cafe close to our apartment. One little lady doing everything, in a rather funky industrial-style cafe built of beautifully welded steel.
 |
| Breakfast cafe |
Across the corner and into the Kenroku-en Garden. It was outstanding. It's agreed to be one of the top 3 Japanese gardens, and it didn't disappoint. Thankfully our choice to wait a day to see it paid off, as the sun was shining and the gardens looked magnificent. At this time of year, there isn't much colour - ideally you'd come a little more into spring for the cherry and azalea blossoms, or in autumn for the autumn colours. However the contrast of bright green moss, dark tree branches and the early plum blossoms were perfect. The gardens must be mind-blowingly gorgeous when the hundreds, maybe thousands, of azalea bushes are in bloom. We are already thinking about a return visit.
There were staff everywhere picking out the tiniest imperfection, sweeping up any nasty stray leaves, and making sure the gravel on the paths was evenly spread. We simply walked about with mouths agape. Every plant or rock seems to have been carefully arranged and shaped, and most trees had ropes supporting them - we couldn't decide if they were to prevent snow damage or to tune the tree's shape, or perhaps a touch of both.
As an indication of the beauty of the gardens, I took 101 photos! There were so many lovely little paths, streams, lanterns and vistas that it was impossible to take fewer. There was a large area of fully blossoming trees, and we originally thought that it meant the cherry blossoms were very early, but it turned out to be plum blossoms, which indeed are normally early. I particularly loved the incredible moss areas. The green was so vibrant.
On leaving the gardens we passed through Kanazawajinji Temple, with all its little messages in paper or on blocks of wood, before heading to the samurai area. This is where the samurai had lived, and the area has a very distinct character. A visit to the Nomura Samurai house was well worth it, as it is one of the very best examples of an urban garden in all Japan. It was indeed amazing how such a small area had been transformed into what felt like a generous multi-layered garden. The house itself was very beautiful too, specially how it interfaced with the garden.
 |
| Samurai area |
 |
| Nomura Samurai House garden. The photo doesn't do it justice. |
Alastair was keen to see the ninja temple not too far away, so off we went. Lunch was at a very modern burger cafe run by a couple of young trendy guys. In New Zealand we've been so trained to avoid uncooked burger meat that we were all a little dubious about the very juicy but rare burgers. Perhaps unnecessary to worry about that in Japan where there is a centuries-old tradition and skill in dealing with raw meat or fish. Needless to say, no issue afterwards.
The visit to the ninja temple was odd to say the least. It should have been a fascinating visit, as the temple was designed with 5 levels and countless passages and stairways to confuse intruders. It turned out they prefer pre-booked tours, but Alastair was directed to talk into a microphone to see if we could go in. The woman at the other end seemed to make deliberately hard work of understanding him, as her statements were in perfect English but not answering his questions. She then just hung up on him. Who knows what was going on - maybe they simply don't want European visitors.
Slightly disappointed, we headed back homewards, via the Museum of Contemporary Art. This was only OK, though a couple of exhibits including a pool where you looked through water at others below was very interesting. Alastair and Simon went back to the pleasure district as Alastair had something he wanted to buy, while we headed back through the gardens again as it was an all-day pass. By then we both felt we could go back home from Japan right now knowing it had already been a worthwhile trip.
 |
| Art work at the Museum |
 |
| Unusual effect of the clear-floored pool |
As it was the last night together with the boys we walked back into the town centre for a meal and a visit to a couple of bars. One thing that takes some getting used to here is that the hours a business is open seem very random, and it's often hard to tell if a place is even open or closed. Not only that, it's tricky to know whether a place is a restaurant, a bar, or something else altogether. Even if it is open and cleary a restaurant, the menus and boards outside might be totally in Japanese, and this we'd have no way of knowing if it was a grill, noodles or sashimi restaurant! We've begun to realise that restaurants tend to have a row of cloth flaps that you walk through, which no other type of premise has. Anyway finding a place for dinner this night was easy. First little street we looked down had a number, but the first looked very promising and in we went. It turned out to specialise in barbecued meats. We are most surprised by the range of food types available. I'm not sure how many meals we'd had by now, but virtually every one has been distinctive. This meal was mostly skewers of different meats, with some other pickles and add-ons. Very tasty.
 |
| Gold everywhere, even on ice creams |
Next stop was a bar street we'd passed earlier in the day. The bar we chose was pretty small, and we were the only people there until a young man turned up later on. Unfortunately smoking in bars and restaurants is allowed in Japan. It hadn't been noticeable until now, but both one of the bartenders and the new arrival were smokers, and we ended up pretty pongy. Finally escaping, we had another drink at a different bar - mine being a warm shochu, a drink similar to sake, and most enjoyable. Sake is fermented from rice and has 15-18% alcohol, shochu is distilled from potato, barley or rice and 25-30% alcohol. Rather a nice way to finish an outstanding day.