Kanazawa images — signage

I haven’t felt like writing about my recent trip to Kanazawa and Matsumoto, mainly because I’ve been sick and feeling blah about things in general. I don’t feel capable of offering up any commentary that’s beyond the “it was nice” variety. So here are some photos instead. I thought I would group them loosely, so will start off with some signage that appealed to me from Kanazawa*.

* The second photo is actually from Wajima, a coastal town about 2 hours north of Kanazawa on the Noto Peninsula.

Off to see more snow

I’m off for the next few days of my ever-shortening winter vacation to see some snow, and eat as much sushi as I can consume (or afford). I’m going to Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture, with a “stopover” in Matsumoto in Nagano-ken to see the world-renowned Japan Ukiyo-e Museum. (I say “stopover” because although it should be on my way back, because of geography I have to first take a train south to Nagoya and then a second train back up north to Matsumoto). The museum is based on the Sakai collection, believed to be the largest individual collection in the world, with over 100,000 ukiyo-e prints.

It’s my first travel experience alone in Japan, we’ll see how far my Japanese goes (or doesn’t go). Not really worried, Naoko is of course only a cellphone call or email away. Speaking of cellphones, I would love to post some real-time impressions to here via my phone a la my previous post but alas, I will have to content myself with internet cafes or the hotel’s business center if they have one, or I just may say screw it and you won’t hear from me for a while (no biggie as that’s been the SOP around here for awhile, no?).