Our Own Personal Tour Guide

Kayo-chan (Yui’s cousin) acted as our guide and showing us around Kanazawa. We went to many of the most famous places such as 兼六園 (Ken-roku-en). This is one of the “big three” most famous gardens in Japan. It was gorgeous, and of all the places we visited, I think we spent the most time there. It wasn’t the stereotypical calm Japanese garden that we always see, especially with all the tourists, but it was full of trees, which are a lot less common in Japan than in Canada. It was there that Kayo and Yui realized that they have the same camera - right down to the lens!
We also visited the castle and an old samurai town that has been redone to look like it did in the past. Now it looks like one of the pricier places to live in Kanazawa. It’s very nice! We also walked through the old geisha sector and Starbucks. The geisha sector is very similar to those in Kyoto, but with fewer tourists. In Kanazawa, you can imagine that you have been transported back in time, unlike in Kyoto. With a personal tour guide we also learned about cool things; such as the path that the workers from the shrine used to take to get to the geisha sector so that no one would see them!
I’m sure the highlight of the day for Yui was seeing me in the market where fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood in various states of “aliveness” are sold. :S It’s amazing how disgusting yummy shrimp look in their natural state. And did you know that crabs blow bubbles when they are drowning? :P
That night we went to an izakaya (いざかや) or a Japanese pub. We ate yakitori (chicken on a stick), korokke (Japanese croquettes...mmmmm...), kimchi, sashimi (raw fish), beef sashimi (raw beef - Yui did, I couldn’t help but think of crazy cows!) and others. It was so yummy! おいしかった！And we’re pretty sure that one of the staff was trying to hit on me, but since his only English phrase was “maple syrup,” I think our marriage is safe.
One of the highlights of the day was spending time with Kayo herself. She is so easy-going and a bit sarcastic, even. We had a lot of fun with her and even though I didn’t speak her language, we were able to communicate and make jokes.

ジェン