Kanazawa

Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, with 466,029 people in January 2018. Its fortune was made by the Maeda family: Maeda Toshiie took over after 1582 and founded the Kaga Domain, and after siding with Tokugawa Ieyasu at Sekigahara in 1600 the family held 1.2 million koku, by far the largest feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate. By the late 17th century more than three quarters of the city was samurai housing, which is why the old districts still feel like a castle town. It is what many people hope Kyoto will be, with fewer people in the way.

Kenroku-en is the reason most people come. It began as the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle, opened to the public in 1875, and is counted among the three great gardens of Japan, with ponds, waterfalls, trees and flowers spread over about 10 hectares. Go early, before the day fills up. Beyond the garden, the surviving samurai districts keep whole lanes of earthen walls. Shoes come off in temples, ryokan and some restaurants, so wear socks you are happy to show.

Since the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened on 14 March 2015, the trip from Tokyo takes around two and a half hours, which turns Kanazawa from an expedition into a realistic stop on a first trip. Book a reserved seat at weekends and in the holiday weeks, when the trains fill. In the city, Kenroku-en and the castle grounds go together, since the garden began as the castle’s outer garden; for the old districts and the rest, check the route in a transit app. A Suica or Pasmo IC card works on local transport nationwide, and cash still goes a long way at small restaurants and old shops.

Kanazawa is slightly cooler than Tokyo, averaging about 4°C in January, 12°C in April, 27°C in August and 17°C in October. It is wet all year, with more than 125 mm of rain every month and over 250 mm a month from November to January, so autumn and winter call for a proper coat and an umbrella.

Goodbars sells a Japan eSIM you install at home and switch on when you land; it runs on NTT docomo, Japan's largest mobile network by mobile contracts, and our Japan coverage page shows where it reaches and what independent speed tests measure. Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is a long-standing habit for visitors to Japan too, and it suits a group that moves together all day.