In late 2013, my friend Phyllis came forward to me, telling me that she wanted to go Japan during the sakura season. Because I had already planned a winter trip in 2014 during February, it would not have been possible for me to fly again in April for the Sakura season that same year. So I had promised her the trip in 2015. Come late October, we started planning for the trip. We had roped in another friend Sue to join our trip, and started searching on for flights. A month later, Phyllis decided she was not comfortable with the radiation rumors (for those concerned, please decide on your own accord – each person’s decision is different from the rest). Sue and I went ahead, and in November of 2014, we booked our flights to depart April 1st, to return on April 12th. Seeing that Sue had almost never traveled out of the country before, she had left the entire planning in my hands, with a few suggestions on her end. Through the 6 months of pre-planning and scheduling, we were finally ready.
CHANGI AIRPORT
Airlines: JAPAN AIRLINES
Depart: Singapore Changi Airport, 9:50pm, April 1st 2015, Wednesday
Arrive: Tokyo Haneda Airport, 5:55am, April 2nd 2015, Thursday
At 6pm, we arrived at the airport for our check-in. A quick dinner with my parents, before we headed into customs. We boarded the flight and prepared for the next 7 hours. For our trip this time round, we chose to take JAL, because I’ve always had great experiences with flying with JAL.
The food onboard was pretty good – I especially loved the salad. The rice crackers were pretty good too. As usual, despite not sleeping the night before, I couldn’t fall asleep on the flight, and then we were told that we were going to be landing 1 hour EARLIER than predicted – which was GREAT, because our schedule for the airport was honestly a little tight! Getting out of the airport, we spotted a long queue at immigration, so we decided to get changed first (we had brought a change of clothes because we didn’t want to wear anything uncomfortable into the flight)
After a quick change of clothes, we cleared customs, and to our confusion, for a moment, COULD NOT FIND OUR LUGGAGES. Yes. The airport is so efficient to the point that they kept our luggages for us because they needed to clear the row for the next flight! A Japanese lady helped us find our belongings – the fact that my luggage was a bright blue made it even easier to spot. At the airport, we had several things to do, which included collecting our GAC Router (as reviewed here), our JR Pass (as mentioned in my pre-planning guide), before we made our way out of the airport.
TRAVELLING TO KANAZAWA
DIRECTIONS:
Haneda Airport to Kanazawa Station
1) 7:33am to 7:51am > Tokyo Monorail from Airport (3rd Floor), to Hamamatsucho Station – Y490
2) 7:56am to 8:02am > JR Yamanote Line(Inner loop) from Hamamatsucho Station to Tokyo Station – Y160
3) 9:32am to 12:06pm > Shinkansen Kagayaki 507 from Tokyo Station to Kanazawa Station – JR PASS
It was around 7:30am when we got on the Tokyo Monorail, where our luggages often became a hassle – especially with all the businessmen who were rushing to work. There, we headed on another train to Tokyo, where we exchanged our JR Passes, and purchased the rest of our tickets for the next few days.
Inclusive of those tickets were tickets for the newly launched Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa. The Hokuriku Shinkansen had opened in March, just a month before our trip, and we were making good use of it to reach Kanazawa! Previously, it would have taken us 4 hours from Tokyo, but now, only 2.5hours!
Before we boarded the Shinkansen, we had some spare time left over, so we headed to look for breakfast! I got myself some onigiri – standard for me every time I travel, and my friend found a small coffee shop in Tokyo Station, where she eagerly bought her daily dose of coffee!
A few minutes later, our train arrived, and we boarded the Shinkansen. The chairs were pretty spacious – not so much so if you have luggages in front of you like we did. But otherwise it was pretty comfortable. We both eventually fell asleep during the 2 hour journey, and awoke just before we reached Kanazawa.
Arriving at Kanazawa gave me a huge wave of nostalgia. I have been here twice – once during a homestay in… I believe was 2007, and another time in 2008. Since then, I always wanted to return, but due to the snow last year I wasn’t able to. Kanazawa has always been a special place to me. It was sort of like a home away from home. After we got out of the train, the first thing we wanted to do was… to leave our luggages at the hotel. For this trip, I chose to stay at APA Hotel Kanazawa Ekimae, because it was within the station.
The interior of the hotel was pretty welcoming, and the lady kindly informed us that our room would not be available until 3pm (it was only around 12pm then). So we left our luggages there, and armed with our backpacks, headed out again! The weather was pretty good – around 10 degrees, so we decided to walk to our first destination.
Kanazawa Area Guide, from japan-guide.com
KANAZAWA STATION 金沢駅
Upon heading out of the station, I was hit with another wave of nostalgia. Years ago, I stood at this exact same spot, taking this exact same photo, not realizing how much a home stay programme could change me. It made such an impact to me, and till this day, it’s a memory I deeply treasure. It’s what made me fall in love with Japan.
OMICHO MARKET 近江町市場
DIRECTIONS:
1) Facing away from Kanazawa Station, walk straight down the main road.
2) Omicho Market would be on the left side of the road.
Walking along the streets, I tried to take in as much as I could. How much I remembered still remained exactly the same, which parts did change. Somehow, I knew my bearings and I knew where I was heading. 10 minutes later, we found ourselves outside Omicho Ichiba. There was so much to see, so many different foods that we wanted to try. We had to start somewhere!
The first thing that really caught our eyes were these fruits. Being pretty cheap for fresh fruits in Japan, we chose 2 that we hadn’t seen before, and gave it a shot. It was so nice that a stranger actually (upon seeing our excited faces) asked us where we bought them from!
These were a sweeter version, but tasted different. They were more like a pamelo taste rather than grapefruit, but the juice was really nice.
One of the things Sue really wanted to try was Ichigo Daifuku, and we obviously could not afford to miss the opportunity when we walked past it! Ichigo Daifuku, CHECKED! It was really nice, and the strawberry was really juicy.
We walked along the market for almost an hour, looking at the different types of foods and trying various drinks, fruits and snacks as we walked past.
We saw all different sorts of fish, dried foods, seasoning, even some freshly grilled food. It was really an overwhelming experience for our tastebuds!
We ended our trip to Omicho Market with a Gelato. This was a soy-based Gelato, that really was quite nice and thick. Both of us shared 1, which turned out to be just right, as the soy taste did get slightly overwhelming. After resting our feet for awhile, we decided to embark on a journey to walk towards Nagamachi. The walk took almost 30minutes, but we finally arrived.
NAGAMACHI 長町
DIRECTIONS:
OPTION 1: Nagamachi is a five minute walk south of Korinbo bus stop. Frequent buses take about ten minutes and cost 200 yen to reach Korinbo from Kanazawa Station (East Exit bus stops numbers 7 to 11). Among the buses are also 1-3 JR buses per hour (departing from bus stop number 4, covered by the Japan Rail Pass) and the Kanazawa Loop Bus. – japan-guide.comOPTION 2: Take a slow walk there. It is a simple straight road, and took us about 30 minutes walk there.
Nagamachi was another area that my homestay trip brought me to. I remembered the canal with the beautiful beige walls, and I remembered thinking many years back, how quaint it was that a town could have such a mix of tradition and modern features.
We decided to explore Nagamachi area a little bit, so we came to Ashigaru Shiryokan Museum.
ASHIGARU SHIRYOKAN MUSEUM 足軽資料館
DIRECTIONS:
Within the edge of the Nagamachi district. There are ample signboards. 5-10minutes from Nomura-ke.DETAILS:
Opening Hours: 9:30 to 17:00
Admission: Free
The museum showed us how the lower-ranked foot-soldiers of the samurais lived. It was pretty simple, but yet it felt really homely. I could almost imagine someone living in a place like this.
SAIGAWA RIVER 犀川
DIRECTIONS:
While walking towards Ninjadera, you will cross this bridge overlooking Saigawa River.
Moving on, we continued our journey, until we surprisingly arrived at a river. It was not one of the stops we had intended to drop by, but it was a nice surprise either way. Later on, we found out that it was named Saigawa River. The sakura along the river had not bloomed completely, but it was still a thrill to see, especially when you come from a little island where you don’t see much of this kind of open spaces.
Standing here, I remembered that many years ago I stood at the library of a school, looking out at the mountains in awe. They were majestic and beautiful, and I would be so happy if I could see a view like that every day.
MYORYUJI / NINJADERA 妙立寺
DIRECTIONS:
OPTION 1: Take the Left Loop of the Kanazawa Loop Bus (15 minutes, 200 yen, departures every 15 minutes) to Hirokoji bus stop (bus stop number LL5) from where you can walk to the temple in about five minutes. – from japan-guide.comOPTION 2: A 30 minutes slow stroll from Nagamachi District. GPS may be needed for further directions.
DETAILS:
Opening Hours: 9:00 to 16:30 (until 16:00 during winter), Closed January 1 and infrequent irregluar closures
Admission: Y800.
Note: Reservations are Required, only by Phone 076-241-0888.
We slowly explored the rest of the area, before coming to a stop at Myoryuji. Years ago, I had come here, and I was intrigued by the traps and exhibits on show at this Ninja Temple (although no Ninjas ever lived here). I thought that it would have been something interesting to show my friend, but also for me, it was to sort of relive those memories again 🙂 Thanks to my fabulous Japanese sister Yuka for booking this for me! Otherwise, you could get your hotel to do the bookings for you.
After the quick tour, we took a train back to Kanazawa Station. It was almost 7pm by the time we had arrived back at the station and went to check into our hotel.
APA HOTEL KANAZAWA EKIMAE
URL: www.apahotel.com/hotel/hokuriku/06_kanazawa–ekimae/english/
Date: 2nd to 5th April 2015
Cost: Y26000, 1 Twin Room, Non-Smoking
Rating:
We finally managed to check in, and headed to our room for the next 3 nights. I had known previously that APA Hotels were not large, but I felt that the size wasn’t that big of an issue for me.
The hotel was pretty decent, and had a few good facilities like a public bath on the higher floors. I was dead tired by then – and took a nap while Sue unpacked and planned her belongings, before we headed out to look for some food. We found a little grocery stall nearby that sold various types of bento, so we decided to buy a few different types and try them all out!
After all that food, we were stuffed! And after the long day of travelling, we headed of to bed. After all, we would need our energy for tomorrow!
To read more about my Spring Japan 2015 Trip:
- Day 0 – Planning and Booking Stages
- Day 1 and 2 – Flight, Travelling and Kanazawa
- Day 3 – Kanazawa and First Onsen Experience
- Day 4 – Yamanaka Onsen, Daishoji, Kanazawa
- Day 5 – Nara Deer Park, Kasuga Taisha, Fushimi Inari Shrine
- Day 6 – Kimono, Keage Incline, Philosopher’s Walk, Maruyama Park, Kiyomizudera
- Day 7 – Universal Studios & Harry Potter!!
- Day 8 – Hakone, Yunessun and Kaiseki Dinner
- Day 9 – Hakone Round Course
- Day 10, 11 and 12 – Shibuya, Harajuku, Asakusa, Ueno
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