Chapter 01
The city that escaped the bombs
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Destination · Japan
Kanazawa, Japan
Japan's most intact city, still intact
A castle town the twentieth century's worst forces somehow missed, where craft traditions and rain-grey streets have had four centuries to settle into themselves.
11 chapters ahead
Climate
Grey, damp, and moody most of the year — the Sea of Japan pushes weather inland constantly, and Kanazawa wears it without complaint
Best season
November, when the garden turns and the crowds thin; or February, when snow settles on the samurai districts and the city looks exactly like it did three hundred years ago
Atmosphere
- urban-midsize
- old-world
- culinary
- artsy
- design-forward
- spiritual
- walkable
- maritime
- early-rising
- lush
The chapters
11 ways to get lost here
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Chapter 02
Gold leaf on everything, even the ice cream
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Chapter 03
Omicho smells like the Sea of Japan
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Chapter 04
Hyakumangoku carries the whole city out
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Chapter 05
Kenroku-en in November, not April
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Chapter 06
21st Century Museum in a city of old things
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Chapter 07
Kaga cuisine keeps the Edo pantry intact
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Chapter 08
Kutani porcelain: five colors, four centuries
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Chapter 09
Rain is not a problem here. It is the weather.
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Chapter 10
Noto Peninsula: the coast that time forgot to develop
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Chapter 11
Kanazawa and Bruges: the cities wealth preserved
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Keep wandering
You’ve finished Kanazawa. Where next?
Pull a thread at random, fall into the world map, or step back to the front door for the latest dispatches.