April 16, 2023 Kanazawa, Japan

We had a morning excursion booked for today. At 7 a.m. the sky was cloudy, temperature 15° C and wind 14 km per hour. Since the dining room didn’t open until 7:30 a.m., we had breakfast in the Lido buffet on Deck 9, then walked on Promenade Deck 3 to get a start on the steps for today. We had 5,126 steps, before we collected our coats and umbrellas and went to the theatre to collect our stickers. We were bus 1 of 2. We were early into the bus but had to wait ten extra minutes for a late couple. This was a seven hour sightseeing excursion in Kanazawa, Japan.

Kanazawa is west of Tokyo on the central western coast. Kanazawa is the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture and renowned for its geisha and samurai districts, the iconic Kenrokuen stroll garden at Kanazawa Castle, and its wonderful cuisine – including some of Japan's highest-quality seafood.

There was a brief shower on the 25 minute drive to Kenrokuen Garden which is one of Japan's "three best landscape gardens”. It is located in the center of the city. We enjoyed an hour wandering the paths. Kerry, from Australia, joined us as we admired the bonsai like shape of the ordinary sized trees, the ponds and buildings. On Sazaeyama Hill there was a pagoda. The gardens were originally the first defence for Kanazawa Castle, further up the hill. The ground, other than the paths, is covered in bright green moss. Kasumiga Pond had large koi swimming in it, although not as colourful as we have seen in other gardens. At Hisagoike Pond there is a small waterfall that was created in 1774. There are still blossoms on some cherry trees.

Across the street, which could have been walked to in less than five minutes, from the garden exit, is the 21^st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. On the front grounds of the museum were cherry trees and a sculpture of large silver coloured balls. The group had 30 minutes to view some of the galleries. The first “gallery” visited was a courtyard with what looked to be a small swimming pool. It is called “The Swimming Pool” and is installed as the ceiling of a three meter high basement room. The actual pool is less than a half a meter deep, with a glass bottom. The people in the gallery below give the impression that they are under water. It was created in 2004 by Leandro Erich. Another 2004 installation is called “Blue Planet Sky” which is a room with a large (60 square meter) opening in the roof . The opening is to let in natural light (and rain) to allow it to move on the walls and floor. Most of the galleries were of little interest to us until we found the People’s Gallery with landscapes and portraits that we liked.

Our next stop was the Naga-machi Samurai District where a 200 year old samurai house from Hashidate Village in Ishikawa Prefecture had been relocated to Kanazawa during the early Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s. The interior had beautiful painted panels and Japanese cypress wood details with elaborate designs in Rosewood and ebony. The floors are covered in the typical Japanese reed rugs. There are painted sliding thick paper doors. There is a pond with koi fish and beautiful small Japanese gardens that can be viewed from many locations on the house’s wraparound verandah. The gardens have been at this location for over 400 years. There was a gift shop near the house where we bought some matcha candy which is faintly sweet.

It was time for lunch and we drove to the New Grand Hotel Prestiage where the banquet hall on the fourth floor was set with lunches for the passengers of the two buses. The tables for six, were set with white table clothes. Each place had a fork, a pair of chopsticks, and hand wipe (which is typical with all Japanese restaurants), a varnished wooden box, about the size of a laptop and about 8 cm high and a printed menu. Once it was opened there were five small dishes of food. A lacquered black bowl of miso was delivered. Later green tea was served. It was a delicious meal.

After lunch the sky was clearing a bit. Our last destination was Higaski Chaya, the traditional geisha area of Kanazawa. This area was established in 1820 by the lord of Edo. The area is known for its production of gold leaf. Almost all of the gold leaf in Japan is produced here. We had over 90 minutes to explore the streets. The streets that run off the main street are narrow and winding, just large enough for a small car to pass pedestrians. There are shops and restaurants lining the streets. There is even a Geisha Union center. The houses and businesses have a dried corn cob hung by their entrances to bring good luck. There is a Shinto Shrine in the area. We looked for one of the ice cream shops that sold ice cream flecked with gold leaf. There were long lines at them so we found an ice cream shop which sold Matcha ice cream cones. Then it was time for the 30 minute drive back to the cruise terminal and again there was a short shower during the bus ride.

The cruise terminal was teeming with people. Larry used the Wi-fi to post the last entry to the blog. People were going to a viewpoint on the second floor or out to a special roped off area on the pier to look at the Westerdam. It was the first cruise ship visit since COVID lockdowns. There were vendor tables of lovely gift and souvenir items including candy and jewellery.

Tonight the ship left Japan, so as passengers returned to the ship, our passports were stamped by Japanese Customs for exiting Japan. It added an extra 20 seconds to going through the terminal to board the ship. Steps 15,407

We ate dinner in the dining room with Susan and her parents Rita and Ernie from Maryland.

They told us that there would a Farewell Performance on the pier by local performers. We got our coats and watched from the Promenade Deck 3 as the costumed artists arrived. There were a few last passengers straggling back to the ship for the 7:30 p.m. All Aboard. The final person to enter the ship, besides the staff that were preparing the ship to leave, was the harbour pilot, who guides the ship out to sea from the Navigation Deck. There were three groups giving a performance. The costumes were colourful and the dancing lively and there was the energy of the flag waving of the enormous flags. There were several hundred people, probably family and friends of the performers, watching from the cruise terminal’s second floor covered observation deck. About 100 passengers lined the port side of the Promenade Desk while others watched from their balconies on Decks 4 through 10. The ship pulled away from the dock at the end of the 15 minute show and blew its horn as a farewell.

We went up to the Lido buffet on deck 9 for tea and dessert to warm up after waiting for an hour for the performance to begin.

Steps today 16,660