Today we had rain, we had sleet, and we had snow. But it didn’t matter because we also had Kanazawa. Kanazawa is a beautiful city of 400,000 people on the northwest coast of Japan. (It is similar to Rosewood in that the cars here also drive on the left side of the road.) Mitch and Jemima arrived last night to accompany us for the next week, and today was spent wandering this city with them.

We were in Kanazawa in April, so parts of the city are familiar. In WW2 Kanazawa and Kyoto were declared protected cities by the Americans and were quarantined from bombing. As a result some of the older parts of this town have been well preserved. The castle and its surrounds are intact, as is the district where the Samurai clans lived – a whole suburb of traditional wooden structures typical of the 18th and 19th centuries. Because we were here earlier in the year we also knew where to start our day.

Angolo Cafe is excellent, AND it opens at 8am – particularly early in a part of the world with cafes that generally don’t begin service until 10am. From here it was a 30 minute stroll to Crab Central – Kanazawa’ s Omicho Markets

At this time of the year on this part of the coast the crab is the culinary king. More than half of the stalls sold seafood, every seafood stall sold crabs or crab meat. The price of a single crab ranged from $50 to around $500. Many restaurants, including the one at the back of our coffee shop have special menus for this time of year that concentrate entirely on this crustacean. (At Angolo restaurant for around $1000 the four of us could have had the only meal currently on the menu – a 6 course crab degustation experience). We will return to the market to purchase ingredients for the Christmas meal to be cooked in our apartment, but as Jem and I are the only seafood fans, I know that crab will not figure on our menu for the 25th.

I have often wondered what would be the worst job in the world for me – being employed to supervise a stationary exhibit in an art gallery would make the top 5 on that list. The Museum of Contemporary Arts in Kanazawa is fabulous and was an excellent way to stay warm. Time spent in art galleries or museums when travelling is rarely wasted, and this collection is no exception. Experiencing the building itself is worth the price of admission, the art was a bonus. None the less, even in this place, if I was confined to one part of one room to protect one art installation – particularly one I didn’t appreciate, I would fear insanity. But insanity was in abeyance in one space in particular – the place: James Turrell’s contemplation room with its ceiling open to the skies. Here we sat peacefully … in contemplation of life against its backdrop of rain, snow and a fleeting view of blue. Turrell is an American artist famed for his work in the ‘light and space’ zone  and his ability to manipulate a viewer’s perception through light – yes even the perception of a Rosewood boy!

Later we meandered the streets of Kanazawa, contemplating dinner and how we might meet the culinary high bar set in Rosewood’s fine dining institutions such as the Royal George – ‘A Gem on the Bremer’. Our dinner at a neaby restaurant specialising in Noto beef  was one such meal. Finely sliced Noto beef and a range of vegetables cooked on a tabletop grill, then served with a variety of condiments and dipping sauces is particularly hard to better on a winter’s night in Kanazawa. Mitch did note that the rising steam frenzy across the restaurant would sadly be vetoed by Aussie workplace health and safety standards. Our  short walk back to the hotel with snow falling, discussing plans for the next day’s wandering – was another contemplation triumph. No, it doesn’t get much better than that – even for this Rosewood lad.