This entry was posted on 2001-04-15
Kanazawa
This one's going to be rather short because it's dinner time and I am starving! I need to go scrounge up something to eat!
Yesterday my entry became so filled up with emotional crap that I forgot to mention that I have finally decided on a "theme song" for this trip. Every time I travel I have a "theme song." And every time I hear my past travel songs, I think of my good times of traveling.
These past three weeks I have been listening to "What do you love more than love" by Dar Williams. It's a very appropriate song for Asian travel since Dar wrote it thinking of her travels in Bhutan. I am not going to go through and type out the lyrics because that will take forever. But a few lines that stick out in my head are "the mountain was so beautiful that this guy built a mall and a pizza shack." So true about Japan! Remember my descriptions of the fifth station at Fuji? Seriously, every time the Japanese see a beautiful natural wonder, they build it up for tourists. "Well I climbed the mountain and I thought about attachment, I thought about the Buddhist king": For me this trip (and any time I travel to Japan) has become really spiritual. Although Dar makes a Buddhist reference, for me, it is Shinto. I can truly understand the presence of the Kami in nature when I see some of these amazing coastal settings, bamboo forests, hills, and (of course) sakura trees.
In the second verse, Dar makes it clear that she is talking about Bhutan (or it could be Nepal as well, but she has said many times that the song is about Bhutan), when she sings about the "land of the monasteries, and the sunshine children, and the prayer flags." I altered the words a bit to suit my needs to "the land of the sakura, and the shinkansen, and the sun flags." (You know, Japan's national flag is white with a big red dot. The red dot is supposed to symbolize the sun. And Japan is "the land of the rising sun." In fact, Nihon, which is Japan in Japanese literally means "root of the sun").
So with a few alterations, Dar Williams' "What do you love more than love" is my official Japan, April 2001 theme song.
Now on to Kanazawa...
By the way, yesterday I was spelling it wrong. It is K-A-N-A-Z-A-W-A, not "Kanezawa." The reason I was inclined to spell it with an "e" is because the first kanji in the name can be pronounced with either an "a" or an "e." I am more used to seeing it as "kane." ("Kane" means money).
Ok, so the city was lovely. Yes, it was infested with tourists (mainly Japanese, though, thankfully). And yes there were heaps of souvenir shops. But of course since I was on my own I could see what I wanted to see and do what I wanted to do.
My Kanazawa day started off with a walk through Kenroku-en (en- park). This garden is one of the three most important in Japan (one of the others is in Okayama and I have no clue where the other is. Sensei???). I could see why. Despite the fact that there were tour groups everywhere, this garden was stunning. Think about an image of a perfect Japanese garden. Kenroku-en is all of that and more. There were foot bridges, koi, fountains, waterfalls, and a wide array of Japanese flora. As you can imagine, it made me really happy to see that most of the sakura trees were still in bloom (and of course I went camera happy as well)!
The garden was up on a mountain making way for a lovely view of Kanazawa city. I didn't really talk to anyone during my visit to the garden. I just wanted to take it all in for myself.
After adequate time spent in the garden (and with the sakura, unlike in Nagano!) I headed off to the old samurai houses (I decided to skip the geisha quarters because here, in Kyoto, they're right at my doorstep). The most frustrating thing of the day happened en route to the samurai quarters. I asked the bus driver which stop number (the bus stops in Kanazawa are numbered) I needed to get off at to see the samurai houses. I know that I asked very correctly because a) it's a simple question, and b) a woman on the bus told me that my grammar and vocabulary was correct. Instead of just telling me which number to get off at, the bus driver (who was female, not very common in Japan) pulls out a huge English map of Kanazawa and precedes to tell me (in broken broken broken English) where the houses are. Great. I know where they are. I just needed to know what stop to get off at! So I asked again (by this time I was growing embarrassed because she didn't drive while she answered my SIMPLE question. I felt as if I was holding up the bus). Again, she precedes to point to the English map. No no no. I know where they are! I just need to know where to get off. At that point (I was angry) I told her that I don't understand English. I repeated my question, for the third time, in perfect Japanese. This time I used more assertive sentence endings, and I spoke (purposely) with an Osaka accent. I meant business. Great, she got the point. But instead of telling me (by that point it was evident that I understood Japanese. Some of the other passengers were even screaming to her "kanajo wa nihongo ga wakerimasu" (she can understand Japanese) what I wanted to know, she used her hands. She held up three fingers. "Sanba noriba?" (third stop) I asked. She used her arms to make an "X." Then she held up fingers. "Jyuban noriba" (tenth stop), I asked? Again, the "X." "Sanjyuban noriba?" (30th stop)??? Nope. Finally, "jyusanban noriba?" (13th) I said impatiently. She nodded yes.
And there you have it... a simple question that could have been answered in 10 seconds taking over 3 minutes. The other passengers were annoyed (at her more so than me). I walked to the back of the bus with a chorus of "nihongo wa joozu desu ne"'s as I passed the people sitting down. Great. The passengers saw that I could speak Japanese. Why was this so damn hard for the bus driver to figure out?
All of the aggravation was pretty much worth it. The samurai district was sooooo cool. Very quaint. And the best part is, there weren't many tourists at that time.
I walked around for a while. After leaving the historical district and stopping by Mister Donut (yummmm), I headed back toward Kanazawa station. I was getting tired and wanted to get back to Kyoto at a reasonable hour.
My day in Kanazawa was nice. I didn't try to pack too many sites in, and therefore I had plenty of time to explore what I really wanted to see.
Ok, it's really dinner time. My stomach is begging.
Tomorrow is the Kyoto temple/shrine circuit! Whee whoo!
Mata ashita!
Ok, so I do have more to say! I am writing from Osaka, the city that I supposedly hate.
Well, I decided to come here for dinner (Osaka is known for its food) and some drinking (and it's known for its night life). Anyway, I am glad that I did! I am actually having a blast here in Osaka! I never thought I'd be saying that!
Anyway, I gotta get off the net and walk around this city! More tomorrow!