Chasing Cherry Blossoms Mar/Apr 2023

[rbjhan]

How long do the blossoms last?

Not long! The petals fall easily, wind, rain, etc...
Normally I'd say 5 days for best viewing.

 

[drron]

It basically luck to see peak viewing as times change from year to year. However usually good for about 2 weeks from about half out to half left. And varies from place to place . So may be early in one place and on time in .

 

[RooFlyer]

Well I actually booked Kagaya Bettei Matsu no Midori,

That place looks exquisite in every respect.

The trees, with support poles. Are the trees grown such that they require supports and/or do the supports & their arrangement have any particular significance?

 

[rbjhan]

That place looks exquisite in every respect.

The trees, with support poles. Are the trees grown such that they require supports and/or do the supports & their arrangement have any particular significance?

I'm not 100% sure but this area in winter gets very heavy snow.
Trees might just need the support to not collapse?

 

[rbjhan]

The next morning.


Went to the public bath again. This time there was only me so took this picture!


* Guests from other Kagaya properties can also visit the public bath here. In the afternoon there were 5,6 in it. I suspect they were from outside since at night and morning I was the only one around.
Matsu no Midori is supposed to be the most high end out of the 4 ryokans so I didn't go to the others.

Breakfast was in the same dining room as dinner.


Tradition Japanese breakfast generally speaking is not exactly my favourite. However last year at Bousui I had the most amazing one, so it can be very tasty too!

 

[rbjhan]

Express train back to Kanazawa was leaving around 1:20 pm. So I had some time to kill after check out.
Decided to explore the onsen town.

*Wakura onsen is located on Noto peninsula, next to Nanao Bay. There are loads of ryokans and not a lot others...For day trippers there's a bath open to the general public for a small fee.
This is it! And the foot bath outside is free.


The mascot....yeah don't ask me what it is....


I went around town collecting stamps from various local attractions, and got a pair of Wajima nuri chopsticks as gift


Staff at Matsu no Midori recommended this foot bath by the sea.


Ooooh it was excellent!

 

[drron]

I'm not 100% sure but this area in winter gets very heavy snow.
Trees might just need the support to not collapse?

That’s the commonest reason for supporting the trees.
However there are also some very old and venerated trees that are also supported to make sure that branches don’t break. There are quite a few such trees in the gardens around Japan.

 

[rbjhan]

That’s the commonest reason for supporting the trees.
However there are also some very old and venerated trees that are also supported to make sure that branches don’t break. There are quite a few such trees in the gardens around Japan.

You probably know a lot more about the gardening things than me!

 

[Quickstatus]

Went to the public bath again

How long to people usually spend in a bath -

 

[rbjhan]

How long to people usually spend in a bath -

That really depends. Some people can stay in the hot water a lot longer than me for example, I will get dizzy if I soak too long.

Typically, at least for me it's anywhere between 30 mins to one hour.
So you go into the change room, then shower area, wash - I like to take my time here.
Then indoor onsen, outdoor onsen if there is one. I don't really stay in it for too long, 10 mins each tops.
Then sauna if there is one, 5 mins tops.
Maybe another round if you feel like it....

So yeah, varies greatly.

Edit, a good rule of thumb is when you hire a private onsen, known as Kashikiri, generally it's 50 mins.

 

[rbjhan]

Back to Kanazawa it was about 2:30PM, you wouldn't think it's peak lunch hour. But holy sxx_ almost all the restaurants inside the station building had long lines outside...
*This time I found sooo many foreigners in Kanazawa, which was unexpected tbh. Heard Italian, German, French...not to mentioned the Taiwanese and HK people!

Managed to find a place only half full. Not sure why coz my lunch was quite good?


If you have seen my previous TRs, it's quite obvious I like the Dormy Inn chain hotels
They opened a new one in Kanazawa called Onyado Nono, which is the Japanese version of Dormy Inn. Ofc I booked this one!

So even though this is a business hotel, you have to take your shoes off at the entrance and put them in lockers (left side of the pic below), slippers are provided on request. Japanese people are comfortable walking on the tatami with socks only.



Room, perfectly adequate for one person.


Manga corner outside public bath


Vending machine, ice machine.


Free ice cream.

And the chain's signature free ramen at night!

 

[rbjhan]

Booked a restaurant via Pocket Concierge to use the AMEX dining credit
Sushi Nao.

It was a very small place, the chef runs an one-man show.
Six seats total. That night there were me and a group of 3 guys - typical Japanese work party I think.


The chef worked in Singapore for 5 years so he spoke quite good English!
We started with firefly squid.


The abalone was to die for!!!


Did I mentioned in Kanazawa everything is golden? Yes, including the plates for sushi here.
Sigh, this gold plate was photographer-unfriendly to the maximum degree
Plus my phone was not great handling low light. As a result I'm not happy with the pictures...so I'll only post a few (nothing to do with taste, purely based on pic quality ha ha). That is to say, I ate a lot more

Nodoguro, you cannot have sushi in this region without it!


Akagai, red clam.


Gizzard shad, I think...


Chirashi


We mixed Japanese and English and chatted a lot. He was very curious about Australia
The other guests, unfortunately did not speak English. So I only managed a few words with them.
They left before me, as they were leaving, one of them turned to me and said "Good Morning!" ROFL

 

[Quickstatus]

Slippers are a problem as the Japanese have much smaller feet than me. There are always none in my size

 

[rbjhan]

Slippers are a problem as the Japanese have much smaller feet than me. There are always none in my size

Ha I don't have this problem.
But really if you stay in Onyado Nono you don't need them...only saw a few wearing slippers.

 

[rbjhan]

The next day was dedicated to Cherry Blossoms.
Kanazawa Castle, unbelievably stunning this time of the year.

One of the Castle Gates.


This was taken on the bridge connecting the castle & garden.




I've been to the castle twice before, never knew it could be this beautiful!

 

[rbjhan]

Every year during the best sakura viewing week, both Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen Garden are opened to public for free.
I got the best timing!




The famous stone lantern of Kenrokuen.

 

[rbjhan]

There's a restaurant in Kanazawa I've been thinking about since last time I was there (pre-covid)!
But they are getting more popular than ever! When I got there about 11:30 it's already full for lunch...


So I decided to come back at 4:30 to put name down for dinner!
Meanwhile, back to Omicho Market for lunch.

Nodoguro ofc




Nodoguro soup

 

[rbjhan]

Onyado Nono was just next door to Omicho, so convenient for a quick soak and nap
Then off to my dinner plan...
Success!


Killed some time in the Tokyu Hands next door.
FINALLY

 

[rbjhan]

During this week, aside from free entry, there was also light up programs in both Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen Garden daily till 9pm.
Obviously I was not going to miss it.


Pictures were difficult though...


The castle was more impressive with the lighting imho.

 

[rbjhan]

The next morning, time to check out. Ta-q-bin my suitcase to Kyoto and walked to the famous Chayagai of Kanazawa.
*Chaya means teahouse, it's kind of high end restaurant where you can have geisha performances.
There are 3 preserved Chayagais in Kanazawa, Higashi, Nishi and Kazuemachi. Out of these 3 Higashi Chayagai 東茶屋街 is most famous.

Closest to the hotel is Kazuemachi Chayagai.