Monday 25th June - Kanazawa and iPhone Cables

Wow sorry this has gotten so behind - it's a good job I am making notes as I go!

So... how hard do you think it would be to find an iPhone cable in a completely strange city where you dont speak the language? Answer – actually even harder than you might imagine. Firstly a lot of places don't open till ten, and secondly it took three shops and calling into the Tourist Information Office. But in the end... Great Success! Anyone visiting Kanazawa who wants bits for mobile phones, iThings or similar should just go immediately to the fifth floor of The Forus shopping centre near the station and look for a shop called Aeon. Super-helpful staff not remotely phased by foreigners talking balls while making vaguely obscene gestures to an iPhone, and all manner of accessories for various communication devices. In the end I didn't just buy a cable, but also an actual charger since it was surprisingly not that expensive and it means I don't have to bugger about with some of the trickier hotel plug outlets which are too low to the counter to accommodate anything but the smallest adaptor.

Luckily this expedition had been fuelled by a home-cooked Japanese breakfast, which are available at Sumiyoshiya on a daily basis if you want them – you just order them the night before and they're 1000 yen apiece. This was another adventure in cuisine, but apart from the strange, watery, tofu jelly thing which I had encountered at Takayama Ouan and knew I didn't like (though ate half of regardless, just to be polite), it was all very good indeed. I made a mess of eating the fish, which came practically whole and with no clues how to tackle it with chopsticks, but fortunately there was no one around the see, since the only other people in the room were an American couple who were having a Western breakfast so clearly they had no room to pick fault. In any case they were engaged in some kind of terse, quiet coupley argument for the entire time they were there, which didn't incline me to putting on my best table manners ever either. They carried on arguing (louder) after breakfast too, because I could hear them from my room, and they were still at it in the evening. Blimey – way to have a relaxing holiday, folks.

I hadn't actually intended to walk to the station (twenty minutes) by the way, but after trying a couple of shops near my hotel with no luck, I had decided to walk in that direction in the hope of encountering an electronics shop.  It did mean I got to enjoy a stroll through downtown Kanazawa though. It wasn't the main shopping area (that's tn the other direction, and comes with a full set of designer shops, department stores, trendy boutiques, cool kids in Sunday best and the obligatory McDonalds) but it was a pleasant walk regardless – there's been some effort made to provide shade on most pavements and there are random water features and bits of public art. I also ran into a Brit (even though he had a half-American accent due to his parentage) who hailed me while having a quick smoke outside of a convenience store (smoking on the street is not allowed in most areas of Kanazawa, and especially the ones with wooden buildings, for obvious reasons)! We had a five minute chat about the city – I believe he is either studying or teaching there – literally it was a very short chat as he was between classes, but he was very sweet and answered a couple of my questions about tourism sights.

I'd  picked up a Loop Bus day pass for 500 yen while I was in the station area, and despite the fact that I was now one and a half hours behind on my intended sightseeing schedule, and still had to charge my iPhone so that I had a camera, I was determined to at least hit some of my intended sights that day. Initially I'd intended to take the Loop Bus back to Omi-Cho Market which was right by my hotel, but forgot it was the last stop on the loop and therefore it was faster to walk. By the time I had gotten back, gotten my iPhone charged and posted an update to my blog it was almost noon, and time was eating into my plans. On the plus side, I had been able to take a walk through Omi-Cho market as a shortcut back to the hotel, and see it in full force for the first time. It really is an amazing place – if you love a proper market, then it's like some kind of paradise. Fruit, veg and seafood everywhere you look, and people hawking their wares cheerfully. If I'd been self-catering that place would have been a goldmine.

But once back on the schedule again my first stop was the castle, since I knew that closed quite early. Kanazawa Castle is a reconstruction but it has been faithfully done by craftsmen using traditional methods and as traditional materials as they could acquire – the bill for reconstruction being 4 billion yen, according to the information guide. It's a more sprawling affair than Matsumoto, but it commands an impressive position and really is a striking building and well worth a visit. As with the reconstructed gatehouse, there's disabled access and they have gone to some pains to include English options on the little talking informational doohickies that are dotted about, as well as braille signage. The donjon (keep) in built in a diamond shape, and all the pillars and supports are also diamond shaped – it's very odd once you're inside to note that the rooms are not square. Apart from being bloody hard to build, it seems that this was likely done to make it possible to see all areas of the castle from the keep. But also, I am sure, to impress the hell out of all the other nobility. Because that's what castles are at least half about, in any country.

There's a nice, shady little formal water garden to rest in before you leave, and you can wander the castle grounds and park without paying to get into the buildings, which is nice. I did go inside though, because I love castles in general, and this one had a gorgeous smell of fresh wood still, even though it was rebuilt a decade or more ago. There is still building work going on to reconstruct another of the gates, so I'll be interested to see how that looks in a couple of years when it's finished – I'm sure the tourist information website will post pics.

After the castle, I legged it across the bridge to Kenrokuen Garden again, though this time I skirted the garden itself in a bid to find.... another garden. Yep, I am a fan of gardens, it's true. I'd heard of this smaller one – Gyokusen - which had once been the private garden of the Nishida family, but is now in the care of a charitable trust. It's a really lovely place – small, but with all the required elements of a Japanese garden, and it feels much bigger than it actually is due to the fact that if you approach the same feature from a different angle, the views are completely different. Extra bonus – the woman spotted that I had a brochure from the tourist information centre (in Japanese, but I took it for the map on the back) and so I got a 100 yen discount on entry!

They will also serve you green tea and a sweet in the garden as part of your visit, but I have to admit here, I am not a massive fan of green tea and especially wary of the powdered formal variety which I am told is stronger and more pungent than the regular stuff. Also ~I was in a hurry after losing a chunk of the day and very conscious that I had to get to the Samurai district before everything closed at four thirty. So since there was no-one on duty in the tea house when I finished my wanderings, I took the opportunity to slip away. Sure, the tea was covered by the entry charge, but I don't mind them having the money for tea I didn't drink since it's a magical place which is very well looked after. And I figure they'll just scratch it up to my not realising that tea was available, since the woman at the entry desk did not speak any English.

After a brief stop at the traditional arts and crafts shop to buy some sweets for later, I finally hopped on the Loop Bus for the first time that day and now pretty sure I wasn't going to get my money's worth out of the pass. Oh well. At least I got one ride, up to the Nagamachi samurai district for a walk round the streets and hopefully to check out the Nomura house – which is not a private residence but is open to the public. But here is where I ran into exactly the same problem I often have when sightseeing or attempting to find things in the UK... the sudden absence of signage. And despite how tourist friendly Kanazawa is, it has exactly this problem, and  in fact it seems as endemic in Japan as it is in the UK. You'll be following signs quite happily, or looking at your map, and abruptly... NO MORE SIGNS, or the map isn't quite right in scale, since it's an illustration and open to some artistic licence. Not that wandering the back alleys of this Edo-type area isn't jolly good fun, but it's progressively less fun when you're on the clock, hot and tired and can't find the one damned house you WANT to find.

Luckily I happened on one of Kanazawa's free rest stop/information centres (some of which have free wifi too, by the way) and threw myself on the mercy of the old chap who was manning the desk, asking the way and showing him my map with a helpless look. OH NOES, he said (or an approximation of such) and informed me that it was 4.15 and that the place closed at 4.30. But I think he must have taken in how hot and knackered I looked, because he promptly left his desk and walked me the short distance to the place I was looking for – guess what, the name of the attraction on the building was not the same as the one used on the tourist guides – le sigh – so I had walked past it already – probably more than once. He also (I think) intervened for me with the woman at the desk to get me in close to the end of the day, and I thanked him profusely before he went on his way. Thankfully it's not a big place to see, and nor is it expensive – plus it turned out I got a discount because I had a Loop Bus pass, though I did not know this until the woman at the entrance desk pointed animatedly at my purse (the pass was sticking out) and at the entrance prices on the wall. Honestly I was none the wiser still, but grasped the gist of what she was saying since I'd already had the discount conversation earlier – or rather, been on the receiving end of the information (not exactly a conversation since I don't have the Japanese to do anything much but look pleasantly surprised and grateful and give the appropriate thanks).

It was worth the hassle just to see inside an actual residence (albeit reconstructed) from the Edo era. I hadn't gotten to see the layout of places where people actually lived apart from in the folk houses at Hida (which of course are rural, not to do with the samurai or ruling classes), so I was very keen to check it out. Again there was a compact but lovely garden – a water garden/courtyard this time – and it was a pity I didn't have the time to  sit and enjoy the sound of the water and watch the enormous carp. But I didn't want to push my luck since I think they stayed open a little longer than usual anyway, but at least I got to see it, even if it was a shorter trip than I had initially planned.

By now I had run out of time for the Higashi-chaya geisha district, which was the last on my list – again I was aware that things closed at four thirty there, so regretfully I decided to skip it. But it was only just before five, and because I had started late, I was still up for some sightseeing.

A quick look at my map indicated that I was only a stones throw from a shrine – Oyama Jinja - that is open 24 hours for looking around the grounds, so I decided on a whim to go and see that too.  Unfortunately I had once again reckoned without disappearing signage and odd mapfuckery, and in the end I took far longer to find it than I should have, but stumbled on it eventually – more out of bloody-mindedness at that point, admittedly. Glad I did though – again it had the most amazing water garden. After baking in 28 degrees heat all afternoon, things were starting to cool and the shade by the ponds was a blessing. I actually hung around there just enjoying the building and grounds for half an hour or so, practically on my own save for a couple of people coming up to actually use the shrine on (I guess) their way home from work.

Really after that I should have taken the Loop Bus home, but instead I decided to walk, since the evening was really rather nice, and it was an excuse to walk along the main shopping drag, even though I didn't actually want to shop. It was only about twenty minutes back to Omi-Cho market and the attached Miza departnent store, where I knew there was a restaurant floor that was calling out my name (yep, the breakfast earlier had filled me up so much that I had not eaten a thing all day, just drunk a whole lot of cold drinks from vending machines).

Unfortunately when you're tired and hungry it's not the best time to run into that nightmare scenario of not knowing what the fuck is going on in a restaurant. After mooching round the many places and many cuisines on offer, and being pressed into trying some interesting goopy sweets by a lady selling delicatessen foods (I felt super guilty for not buying any by the way – argh) I chose what I correctly guessed to be a Japanese/Italian fusion place, a food mix I was curious to try, and which was staffed by very enthusiastic and friendly young women. There were a couple of ladies leaving as I arrived (I read that this type of cuisine is popular with Japanese women as it's lighter than traditional noodles) but I was the only person in there apart from them – it was a bit early for the dinner crowd at barely gone five thirty. But ididn't care, since I picked out what I wanted pretty swiftly – no English on the menu but the illustrations were clear enough, and seafood pasta sounded good to me.

The waitress came over to bring me water and take my order and a ventured to indicate what I wanted and ask for THAT PLEASE in Japanese. Job done, you'd think. But no – then I tried to order a drink and clearly that confused the shit out of her, despite the fact I'd managed it with other waitresses in cafes. I know they did cold drinks but couldn't read the Japanese for what they were, and pointing at it wasn't going to cut it here as it was one of those “all one price, selection of drinks” things that you see in English restaurants sometimes too – so one multiple picture and one price. Apparently struck by an idea she asked if I wanted coffee, and just to get a bloody drink I said yes that's fine. She clearly thought I was mental for wanting coffee with dinner and not after it but oh well,  But that wasn't all. Oh no. Next she came back with a completely unintelligible laminated sheet of which I could read a bit of the katakana but that didn't help me guess what it actually meant. By this point I just wanted to drop through the floor and/or leave the place, whichever was easier, and she was equally embarrassed. A British person and a Japanese person, utterly failing to communicate – I swear to God it was like a vortex of excrutiating embarrassment – her because she couldn't explain and me because I couldn't understand. I had no clue what she was trying to tell me and in the end just said yes, to put an end to the whole debacle and save her from any more attempts to explain “service” which was the only English word she could find to use and which was not helpful in conveying what was going on.

From that point on and all the way through eating my pasta I was wondering what the heck I had said yes to, and god damn it I'm on a budget what the hell was I thinking. This truly is my nightmare scenario eating out abroad, no lie. The pasta was pretty good by the way – shrimp flesh and soybeans and all tossed in a light miso broth.

To my very great relief, what transpired after she had cleared my plate away was that... she brought me a dessert with the bill, which only contained the itemised coffee and pasta. It was a slightly fancy sundae type thing with chocolate brownie, cream, cling peaches (yes really), sorbet and ice cream. It would seem that what she was trying to explain was that a dessert was included in the price as a special haha. Thank goodness! I wasn't actually particularly hungry by that point but I ate it anyway as after all the effort she went to trying to communicate it would have been rude not to.

Completely stuffed with food, I made a slow walk home up the hill before going for a long soak in the bath. Best way to end a day, though there was still time for one more amusing incident back at the hotel. In the process of asking a question of the younger owner (she is the one with the pretty high level of English), I had my little clear wallet full of hotel info and sundry printouts that I have brought with me so I know where I'm going and what I'm doing. She was laughing and asking how many places I was staying and how long, because it does have a lot of paper in it, heh. Anyway I assured her it was not all hotel confirmations and that my last week would be in Tokyo. Her response was pretty much “why spend a week in Tokyo” which is a common response anywhere but Tokyo, I think (plus Kanazawans are a proud-of-their-city lot in general, remember). So, I said “Oh I am going to see some rock concerts, and half pulled out one of the Buck-Tick ticket confirmations in explanation. “Ohhhh... Baku-Chiku!!!” was her immediate and genuinely excited response. “They are very famous! I have seen them on television!” Sadly, she also noted that she is too busy to go to concerts, but still, she seemed pretty thrilled about the whole thing, which made me smile no end.

This would not be the last time that Baku-Chiku would elicit that kind of response by the way, but more on that later!

• Photos from Kanazawa of the castle, garden and Samurai area are on Flickr here with all my other trip pics - in reasonably chronological order.

Music for this day was Living on the Net by Buck-Tick (Ken Ishii remix). If only I was, I wouldn't need a bloody cable.