The super sleek bullet train, or Shinkansen as they’re known over here, is an insanely aerodynamic marvel of Japanese engineering and efficency and today we were excited to board one for the first time to take us to our next destination Kanazawa. We crossed Japan at speeds of over 300km a hour and we’re there before we knew it. A short and incredibly slow bus ride (in comparison) later and we were at our amazing hotel in kanazawa.

We ventured out into the old Samurai district where Samurai and their families once lived. We toured a restored residence and got a real sense of the living conditions.

The serene garden was especially beautiful and, of course not a sofa in sight in the entire place.

We found a lovely restaurant to end the day in, sampled some more sake and retired happy an a little tipsy.

Our hotel provided us with kimono, haori (overjacket) and Yukata (pyjamas). We immediately played dress-up and agreed that we felt very much at home in Kanazawa.