Kanazawa

We arrived to a wet and windy Kanazawa.  But it was Buddha's (and Em's) birthday, so we had to celebrate - Teppanyaki style!

Sashimi entree to teppanyaki - 19th floor of the Kanazawa Crowne Plaza (really nice wine - French, 2005 Sauvignon Blanc)

I thought I ordered rare (Adam singes eyebrows).

Saturday morning was just as miserable, so we set out into the rain.  Luckily the loop bus took us everywhere we needed to go. First we checked out the geisha district of Higashi Chaya-gai including a 200 year old geisha house and a random outburst of Schubert from a string quartet in a teahouse window.  We were also caught up in someone very famous walking past... We still haven't worked out who she was, but there were TV cameras and people running from everywhere to watch her, and her entourage, walk past.

Can you identify this woman???

Next we visited the Kanazawa castle, which had been recently rebuilt.  Like all really important Japanese buildings, it was constructed of wood - and has subsequently burnt down on several occassions.  But the rebuilt castle was quite impressive - particularly for those engineers fond of timber construction.

Kanazawa Castle.

In the evening (with much clearer weather), we went back out to the geisha district for some night time sightseeing.  We were lucky enough to happen upon a traditional Japanese dance performance.

Nice hat.