Shinkansen is the superexpress train in Japan with speeds up to 320 km/h, and we took our first longer trip on one of these lines up to Kanazawa today.

Our hotel, Uan, is so sleek and artsy, and we had to try on the Japanese pyjamas, or yukatas, with belts and wooden sandals and all. Kanazawa is famous for its samurai history and arts traditions. In fact, they produce all gold foil in from Japan in this town. We walked through the samurai district with well-preserved houses from the old ages, and even visited the inside of an old samurai house. Kanazawa did not suffer damage during the Second World War so many houses and buildings from the old era are intact. The samurai district is also dotted with many small confectionary and ceramics shops.

It snowed so much that we escaped into a mall for a little while looking at Japanese manga comics.

Terry had a haircut at a speakeasy barbershop that looked like a bar, and the hair dresser didn’t speak a word of English. Turned out great though!

Dinner was at an izakaya restaurant, the Japanese equivalent of a pub grub place. Sashimi, ox tongue, noodles, mushroom, scallops – and a flight of Japanese craft beer and a flight of seasonal sake. (Tedorigawa sake from Yoshida was our favorite)

Back at the hotel they served free sobu noodles (made with buckwheat) as a night snack and we had another sake of course.