This Friday I headed to Kanazawa and Wajima (on the West coast of Japan) in one of 2 university buses full of international students. It was my first time being outside of Nagoya and its' surrounding area and I was so happy to see the mountains and drive through the trees! Along the way, we stopped at a rest stop in a wide valley and I went for a jog in along the riverside park/boardwalk. There were some Japanese people playing what looked like croquet but they were aiming at golf holes! As we drove on, we reached the ocean. It was beautiful of course, but the beaches were a little dirty, with garbage strewn all over them. There were these strange cement pieces lining the shore which I realized must be put there to stop erosion.
When we arrived in Kanazawa, we visited the Kenrokuen Park, next to Kanazawa Castle. It is a large traditional Japanese garden, one of the most well-known in Japan, with beautiful trees of all kinds, ponds, creeks, statues and the like. After a relaxing wander through the park with Esha, we all went to a Japanese sweets shop. The sweets are made principally from rice flower and bean paste and are eaten with green tea. It's a really delicate process to shape/fold them into beautiful creations.
From there we continued on to Wajima were we went to a lacquer ware museum. The process to create most lacquer ware pieces (bowls, tea cups, etc.) takes a year or two. First they polish the wood again and again and cover it with many layers of lacquer are applied. Human hair (specifically from young women with straight, black hair) is sometimes used with the lacquer to strengthen the pieces. Some pieces are also adorned with gold, silver or abalone detailing. After visiting the museum, we checked into the hotel...
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