The Uncharted Japan website is little more than a month old and the first video (on Takayama) on the Youtube Channel was posted two weeks ago, therefore though we have a great deal of experience in getting around Japan, the platform of Youtube is something quite foreign. However, with the help of my consultant Josiah Swank in Denver, Colorado, we’ve now uploaded our third video, and it happens to be about a most amazing city: Kanazawa.
Kanazawa is situated on the west coast of Japan about an hour from Osaka/Kyoto by shinkansen (bullet train). Its a very cosmopolitan city of medium size, yet with a history that matches that of Kyoto and Tokyo. It was a very prominent economic and military hub hundreds of years ago and as a result it developed a very sophisticated population, well versed in the fine arts of the day. This led to the creation of numerous neighborhoods in Kanazawa featuring tea houses, live theaters, taverns and geisha. Of course geisha is not what many folks think it to be, as a geisha was (and is today) a typically well educated lady who understands the fine art of the tea ceremony, dining, music, language and social skills.
In Kanazawa there are several well preserved areas of the geisha and tea houses including the Higashi-chaya District and the Kazue-Machi District. To go there today, you can walk the original streets and step away into narrow alleys and lanes lined with two story Edo style buildings. Its a fascinating experience to walk among such historic buildings packed tightly together. This is especially the case in the evening when the alleys get even more narrow in the dark, illuminated by few street lights and perhaps paper lanterns hanging in various doorways of inns and restaurants. Its a magical experience.
Another excellent neighborhood to explore is the Nagamachi Samurai District. This is very different from the others. The streets are wider and the architecture is very different. The samurai were effectively “hired guns” for the local lord or daimyo. They lived near the castle to be ready to help in its defense, and they were often pretty wealthy. In keeping with their skills and wealth, they built larger, more expansive homes in compounds behind high earthen walls, such that getting inside was only by appointment. Today, you can walk this neighborhood admiring the homes often while walking alongside rushing streams which run between the 
edge of the road and walled house on the other side.
Speaking of castles, Kanazawa Castle is my personal favorite in all of Japan. Its quite different from most castles in Japan which feature five and six story keeps or towers as their focal point positioned behind multiple layers of walls and moats. In its prime Kanazawa Castle was one of the largest in all of Japan, and you can visit the castle park and see a reconstruction of part of it. Today one of the main outer walls and two towers have been authentically restored to show what this place was like in its glory days. Perhaps what fascinates me most is that what you see was reconstructed using the original techniques from four hundred years ago with no nails having been used. Yes, you read that correctly. No nails were used to rebuild this castle. Now of course the builders had to follow current fire and safety codes which required some nails and metal work, but as for the physical structure, none were used, and inside you will see close up examples of how it was done, and its mind boggling how the pieces fit together with wooden pegs, dowels and rods.
There are many other sites in Kanazawa such as the Kenroku-en Garden considered to be the one of three most beautiful in Japan, the 21st Century of Contemporary Art among others. So to learn more about Kanazawa please watch our video tour of Kanazawa by clicking here.
