"Kanazawa: The Perfect City to See Japan's Nature, Food, History, and more (Shirakawago side trip)"

Everyone knows about Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, but nobody seems to know about Kanazawa, and I think that needs to change. Known for its arts and crafts, historic districts, gold leaf, and seafood, Kanazawa will surpass your expectations. It is also a central hub to popular destinations such as Shirakawago Village, where you find these unique farmhouses, and it is a brief Shinkansen trip from Tokyo. You realize Kanazawa is special as soon as you exit the station and stand in front of the Tsutsumi-mon gate. What better way to immerse ourselves in Kanazawa than by staying in one of its traditional homes? So we booked this house through a local company. For about 100 USD a night, you got this spacious house with tatami floors, a kitchen with accessories, and this impressive bathroom with a little garden on the outside, and this cute little toilet space. Upstairs were the sleeping rooms, and sleeping on the floor did wonders for our bags. It was time for lunch, so we found this restaurant on Google Maps that looked very good. This is Hatake-no-ko, a restaurant run by a couple. They offer takeout bento boxes, or you can dine in in this counter that fits about six people. They first serve you this little fried fish, and these are some roots, sweet potato slices, and fish cakes. Their lunch special, it had so much yummy stuff, more greens and veggies, rice and fried fish, and fried curry chicken. A glorious miso soup with mushrooms, and it was all delicious. This was by far one of the best meals we had in our trip. If you're looking to go to Japan, then you've probably heard about the crowds and how to beat them. 5 to 6 a.m. wake-up calls are a must if you want to get a decent picture. Well, here on an afternoon, you could have the whole place to yourself. No people shoving you or smacking you accidentally with umbrellas. Instead, you have this peaceful atmosphere. Perhaps it was the rain or mere coincidence, but Kanazawa feels like the perfect destination people don't know about yet. Passing through these alleys and traditional roads was really special. It was like Japan was saving all these amazing views for the end for us. For dinner, we headed to Katamachi, a district popular for shopping and dining. Again, we resorted to Google Maps reviews and decided on this spot, Ippei Sushi. There was no wait time. We popped our head in and were greeted by a lovely older couple. We love the traditional atmosphere here. The sushi chef puts the nigiri pieces on the counter as he prepares them. Overall, the atmosphere, the kind, service, and quality. We give this a really good rating. As I said before, Kanazawa is known for its seafood and the Omitsu market is a must. We decided to eat at one of their special sushi places. From Kanazawa station, we took a two-hour bus ride to Shirakawago, a village nestled between the mountains. It is one of Japan's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. You've probably seen a photograph before of this place. You know that one picture overlooking the whole village. It seems like a village straight out of a fairy tale book. Walking through its back alleys next to water streams and among cherry blossom trees was really breathtaking. Here at Kyoshu Cafe, you can enjoy some hot chocolate, coffee, juice, or pastries while taking in the scenery. The warm atmosphere made it one of those places that you don't want to leave. So we headed to sightsee more and figure out lunch. What best way to warm up the soul than have a hot plate of soba noodles and crispy tonkatsu? Again, this restaurant was part of one of the traditional houses here. This is Hanamizuki and what we really liked here was the atmosphere. The sweets such as this mizu shingen mochi, also known as a raindrop cake. If you have warabi mochi, this tastes a lot like it and the kinako powder on top with the syrup makes it a yummy combination. We also got this platter of sticky rice balls called dango. They were warm and delicious to eat as well. Overall, very happy to have come here as well. There's a popular postcard picture that has three houses lining up right next to each other. We walked all over looking to find them. I think these were it. Then we thought we walked around the whole village and we encountered this bridge that led to a beautiful row of sakura trees. This was pretty much our last view before heading back. Buses back to Kanazawa are few and ours had a return time of around 3 p.m. When we got to Kanazawa, we rushed over to see the Kanazawa castle. With 30 minutes to spare, we also managed to secure entrance to the Kendroku-en garden. One of the most famous gardens in Japan. The place was practically empty. That just made for an atmosphere that I don't think you can find any other time. So for dinner, we headed back to Kitamachi area and dining at this izakaya. Ordering was from the tablet and it was so easy. We practically could order until our heart's desire. We got some sashimi, a fried food platter sampler, some ochazuke, grilled chicken, sweet potatoes with matcha salt, which is a game changer, and a cheesy mushroom plate. Right outside the izakaya, there was a game center with a bunch of crane games so we gave it a go. We got lucky and grabbed this akikun figure from Chainsaw Man and tried really hard to get this Anya plushie on a figurine. We wasted all our money. It's okay though, we were leaving the next day and we needed to get rid of our coins. Finally, the departure day came around and we were sent off by this cute doggy. I know, I know, he was begging us to stay. We'll be back, promise Mr. Winnie. We took the shinkansen back to Tokyo from Kanazawa and it was a two-hour ride so we made sure to grab some ekiben. We'll never stop being amazed at the presentation and quality of ekiben. We arrived to Tokyo station but with a couple hours to spare, we did something crazy and tried to visit Akihabara for at least 30 minutes since we had never been there before. It was Sunday so it was crazy packed but we arrived just in time when they stopped the traffic and let people walk in the middle of the street. Then rushed over to our last stop, Ueno Park, to grab just a sight of this popular park. And with that, we waved goodbye to Tokyo and concluded our Japan 2023 spring trip. Thank you so much for making it until the end with us. We are so happy that we get to share this experience with all of you. Until next time, peace.