9 November 2024
A garden a castle and a coin laundry
Kenroku-en and Kanazawa castle ruins
Today I went to 3 places. I have been to 2 of them before. The coin laundry I went to I have not been to before.
The entire reason millions of westerners come to Kanazawa on their second visit to Japan is to go to the Kenroku-en garden. Yes, I mean exactly that, it is the most popular second visit to Japan location in all of Japan by a considerable margin. I think I waited about 4 visits to go to it, years ago, and now I have been a second time.
It is ok.. but I do not get as excited for it as everyone else. I think I have been to gardens just as good that I do not even remember the name or location of. The good news is that it is cheap to get in, less than $4. In further good news it opens at either 5am or 8am. If you go at 5am you must leave before 8am, I think the 5am entry is for people with tripods. I was waiting at the gate at 8am and was 2nd in, and for the first hour there were no tour groups at all.
By the way, the only tour groups with the flag and loud speaker I saw were German and Japanese.
After the garden, the next location, connected by a footbridge is the castle ruins. There is no castle. There are some storerooms as they call them that might be old. Shoes off to enter. I did not. The grounds are really nice though.
And then finally, time for the laundry. I forgot my camera so no photos of washing machines. Every time I go to a laundry I re try on all my clothes to figure out how much they shrunk. My top tip is never ever use the laundry in your hotel, go to the proper one and use their huge machines and dryers made for futons on very low heat.
Last time I was here the trees on this street all had bright red leaves. This time, not so much.
That is the only person in front of me to get into the garden. I timed it for 8am perfectly, just as the gate was unlocked. There are a few gates but for the first hour or so I got many photos with no other people, and the early (or late) sunlight is the best light.
Now it is time for a lot of mossy photos into the sun.
Moss, trees, shadows.
The trees are already being tied up for winter. They should delay it a couple more weeks. Last time I was here there was an army of men on ladders doing stuff.
The garden is elevated, one of the features that apparently makes it one of only 3 'perfect' gardens in all of Japan. Really, that is it's claim. Anyway, the view is pretty good.
This is the main view spot. Probably better at dusk rather than dawn.
Turning towards the sun looks better. No other people in my shots.
More trees.
More moss.
The shots are boring when the sun is at my back.
Neonriffic.
I will stop soon.
But not yet.
Famous lantern. Actually most of the actual trees have some kind of origin story.
The lesser pond was still completely in shadow, so I did not bother with many photos of it.
Still no people.
Is this the last one?
It was the last one. OK, I exited a different way to go get a coffee before the castle ruins. Here is the wall.
The sun was still low even when I got back to the castle. You cannot enter this area. And now that I think of it, there are many interesting parts within the garden you cannot enter either, kind of frustrating as all the elevated mounds were off limits even though there were paths over them.
Behold, the site of an upcoming ancient historic castle.
Not a castle, a storeroom. Also not sure if new or old.
I think the wall is old.
The thing I most remembered from last time is this lawn. Seriously.
I exited via the non preferred route and found myself in more lawned areas with more ponds.
Back near my hotel now, and it is time to check out the Omicho market, at peak capacity. A lot of different crabs. Too crowded, I could not wait to leave.
And then after successfully washing all my clothes, I found the street behind my hotel is a long traditional shopping street, complete with stalls setup to extract money from unwanted tourists that the entire town relies on for it's survival.
Last pic of the day is the shrine at the centre of the shopping street. You could buy twisted potato on a stick from here. They set up tables for you to sit and eat it, because in Japan foods designed to be eaten while walking must never be eaten while walking. So really then, what is the appeal of things like twisted potato on a stick? Might as well eat something on a plate.