Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [232]
Baby Rick (263-5063; 1-5-20 Katamachi; 5pm-3am) This classy little shot bar has a billiard table, jazz and whisky (the good kind), and you can get dishes like spaghetti carbonara and homemade pizzas. It’s in the basement level beneath Shidax karaoke. There’s a ¥500 cover after 10pm.
I no Ichiban (261-0001; 1-9-20 Katamachi; 6pm-3am Mon-Sat, to midnight Sun) This slender izakaya serves plenty of cocktails and has ambience in spades – so much so that it’s almost unrecognisable from the street. Look for the wood-panel screen and tiny stand of bamboo.
Pilsen (221-0688; 1-9-20 Katamachi; dishes ¥600-1800; 5.30pm-midnight) Munich by the Katamachi Scramble, this German-style place serves lots of beers and a fascinating hybrid menu: where else can you get a sausage plate and warm tofu-mushroom salad in the same meal?
Entertainment
Nō theatre is alive and well in Kanazawa, and performances are held weekly during summer at Ishikawa Prefectural Nō Theatre (264-2598; 3-1 Dewa-machi; admission free, performance tickets extra; 9am-4.30pm Tue-Sun).
Shopping
For a quick view of Kanazawa crafts, you can visit Kankō Bussankan (Ishikawa Local Products Shop; 222-7788). The Hirosaka shopping street, between Kōrinbō 109 department store and Kenroku-en, has some upmarket craft shops on its south side; department stores carry crafts too. At the Sakuda Gold Leaf Company you can find business-card holders, mirrors, chopstick rests and Buddhist prayer bells among many objects covered in gold leaf.
On a corner in the Nagamachi samurai district in a wonderful old house with a garden, the Kanazawa Kutani Museum (221-6666; 1-3-16 Nagamachi; 9am-10pm Mon-Sat, to 6pm Sun) is a lovely place if a bit of a misnomer; it’s really a shop selling mostly high-end ceramic ware with a small museum of historic Kutani ware in the old storehouse and a cafe.
At the other end of the spectrum, Tatemachi is to Kanazawa what Teramachi is to Kyoto: a young, trendy, pedestrian shopping street blaring with music.
Getting There & Away
AIR
Nearby Komatsu airport (KMQ; www.komatsuairport.jp) has air connections with major Japanese cities, as well as Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei.
BUS
JR Highway Bus (234-0111; reservations 9am-7pm) operates express buses from in front of Kanazawa Station’s east exit, to Tokyo (¥7840, Ikebukuro seven hours, Shinjuku 7½ hours) and Kyoto (¥4060, 4¼ hours). Hokutetsu Bus (234-0123; reservations 8am-7pm) serves Nagoya (¥4060, four hours).
TRAIN
The JR Hokuriku line links Kanazawa with Fukui (tokkyū, ¥2940, 50 minutes; futsū, ¥1280, 1½ hours), Kyoto (tokkyū, ¥6710, 2¼ hours), Osaka (tokkyū, ¥7440, 2¾ hours) and Toyama (tokkyū, ¥2810, 35 minutes), with connections to Takayama (total ¥5840, additional 90 minutes). From Tokyo take the Jōetsu shinkansen and change at Echigo-Yuzawa in Northern Honshū (¥12,710, four hours).
Getting Around
Airport buses (¥1100, 40 minutes) are timed to aeroplane departures and arrivals, leaving from stop 6 in front of Kanazawa Station’s east exit. Some buses also stop at Katamachi and Kōrinbō 109 department store but take one hour to reach the airport.
Hire bikes from JR Kanazawa Station Rent-a-Cycle (261-1721; per hr/day ¥200/1200; 8am-8.30pm) – take an immediate left from Kanazawa Station’s west exit – and Hokutetsu Bicycle Rental (263-0919; per 4hr/day ¥630/1050; 8am-5.30pm), by stop 4 out the west exit.
Any bus from station stop 7, 8 or 9 will take you to the city centre (¥200, day pass ¥900). The Kanazawa Loop Bus (single ride/day pass ¥200/500, every 15 minutes from 8.30am to 6pm) circles the major tourist attractions in 45 minutes. On Saturday, Sunday and holidays, the Machi-bus goes to Kōrinbō for ¥100.
Cars can be hired at rental agencies around the station.
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NOTO-HANTŌ
With rugged seascapes, traditional rural life,