In Kanazawa, Little Kyoto
Kanazawa is a quiet and charming city. It's relatively small and one can cover in two days I reckon. I visited there during end November and early December. On hindsight I think I was a bit late in viewing the autumn leaves. The old town, the willow trees, the moody weather.. it gives the feel. No wonder it's called Little Kyoto for a reason.
Kanazawa has beautiful art and design inspiration. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the art and design here. I mean the cafes are beautifully designed, architecture is lovely. I love that they preserve the old, and in some cases they retain the old design and inject new design into it. For example the the corn on the door of the Aesop store in Higashi Chaya District is a lucky charm.
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| The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art |
Throughout my entire stay in Kanazawa, I stayed at Guesthouse Pongyi, which was about 5-10 minutes away from the train station. It felt like a home away from home as the warm hospitality from the three hosts (Masaki-san, Maru-san and Nina-san). It's a simple house, with cozy rooms and what I enjoyed the most was the times where we spent around the Kotatsu doing origami or mizuhiki and chatting.
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| The origami collection at Guesthouse Pongyi |
My host, Maru-san welcomed me and gave a short background of the house. This house was at least 100 years old and was formerly a kimono storehouse. The owner, Masagi-san whom we met, shared his story of how he lived in both Japan and South America and the origins of Guesthouse Pongyi. After working in a bank for many years, someone told him to go to Myanmar to be a monk, which he did for two years. He returned and set up Pongyi, (which means monk in Burmese) which is now a guesthouse for foreigners and locals.
I stayed there for three nights and saw travelers from Thailand, Britain, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. There was this lady from Hong Kong who told us that she visited Japan 40 times in 10 years! Her goal was to visit all 47 cities in Japan. Pretty amazing. Another backpacker and I said that she should have just quit her job and live in Japan for one month and she'll probably be able to cover in that time frame.
One of the locals in my guesthouse was preparing for her exam to become a narrator for the Kanazawa Television and we were sitting around the table folding origami. (Yes, we do art and craft every night. It was origami and Mizuhiki) We were having snacks with Kagobucha and as a good luck symbolism, Masagi-san ordered her to take the first piece. She also ate Katsu-don the day before (Katsu means win).
For some reason, Japanese culture attracts me. Maybe it's because of its etiquette and how different it is from other countries I've been before. I've been trying to find the words to describe the Japanese culture, why people there are so polite, why they do things like say Itadakimasu before they eat, why the staff keeps bowing whenever you leave a shop or restaurant etc. And I think in essence, the word to sum it up would be: Respect. Respect for the people, respect for nature, respect for yourself. Respect is the thread that forms the fabric of the society.
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