Kanazawa has a number of things to do. It is best known for the Kenrouken landscape garden. It also has an interesting modern art museum, and a number of other places to visit. My wife and daughter were interested enough in the things we didn’t do the first day, they opted to come back here the day I went on the Alpine Route.
Getting to Kanazawa
There are many trains Toyama to Kanazawa – we rode the Thunderbird (same train we came in on the day before). It’s about 30minutes. The trains are reserved so get your tickets the night before at the Toyama station.
From Kanazawa station, pick up an english tourist map. They should have one that displays the Kanazawa Loop Bus route and shows all of the stops by number. Catch the bus in front of the station and take it to the stop nearest the garden. (There are multiple entrances to the garden, any will do.)
Kenrouken
Maybe I’m not a garden person, but I was a little underwhelmed. It was a nice garden, but my expectations with the billing of the best landscape garden in Japan were high. Maybe the point is that it’s more landscape than garden. We spent about 90 minutes touring around the different settings.
The picture at the top of the article is from the main pond at the gardens. Another popular spot is the fountain – said to be the oldest fountain in all of Japan.
21st Century Art Museum
Exit the gardens at the western corner – the Mayumizake Entrance. Head west and look for the big round building – that’s the museum.
There’s a number of outdoor pieces you can enjoy for free. Below is an example – a set of red, green, and blue panels arranged so you can look thru any combination of the 3. Inside, there’s one really cool exhibit – the swimming pool that you go underneath! As for the rest – well if you like modern art, there’s some really funky stuff here.
After touring the museum, we had lunch at a cafe a block away.
“Ninja Castle” (Myoryuji)
Our third stop was at temple that is better known as Ninja-dera. This was a lot of fun. It’s basically a large house with a number of tricks to allow for quick escape, hiding, and detecting enemies. Trap doors, hidden stairs, etc.
The tour is only given in Japanese but they have a written guide in English.
Getting there
This is one of those times when having Google Maps working was really helpful. “Ninjadera Kanazawa” finds the right place on Google Maps (click to see it). It’s a 20 minute walk from the museum / downtown area. Google Maps accurately shows the narrow alley that you have to turn down to get there. You go past Gannen-ji Temple and Ninja-dera is behind it. There wasn’t any sign on the main street, you just have to hit the alley right.
Return to Toyama
Walk back to the downtown area, and from there you can catch the loop bus back to the station. Take any of the express trains back to Toyama.