We have come to the best leg of our Japan trip, which I will be sharing over two blog posts! When misterchewy and I first planned for this trip, we had intended to visit only Tokyo and Osaka. It was less than 2 weeks before our flight that we finally made up our minds to visit Shirakawa-go! One of the major reasons which held us back initially was the thought of having to travel long hours by train and bus with a toddler, which can be quite inconvenient and tiring for us. We eventually managed to convince ourselves that everything would turn out fine and we would have the time of our lives! Not surprisingly, all the ryokans in Shirakawa-go were fully booked for the second half of March and we made Kanazawa our stopover instead.
Woke up bright and early to catch the 7am Thunderbird Limited Express from Shin-Osaka to Kanazawa! We left our two big luggages in our Airbnb and brought only the small one along since we were only going to spend a night in Kanazawa. This was our 7-Eleven breakfast on the go!
Reached Kanazawa station after 2.5 hours! Do you know that Kanazawa station is one of the most beautiful train stations in Japan?
Even though it was very last minute, we managed to secure a room at Hotel Nikko Kanazawa, and it was a 5 minute’s walk from the station! We paid about S$150 for a night and it was totally worth it!
Our cosy room was perfect for the three of us!
The view from our hotel room.
After freshening up, we took the JR bus using our JR pass to Kenrokuen Garden, classified as one of Japan’s “three most beautiful landscape gardens” alongside Mito’s Kairakuen and Okayama’s Korakuen. There is an admission fee of ¥310 per adult. As you can see, we specially packed a thicker set of clothing for our trip to Kanazawa and Shirakawa-go because these places were so much colder! Shall let the photos do the talking!
Small tea house selling snacks and souvenirs.
I don’t remember we had lunch but misterchewy wasn’t hungry so I made him buy these dango for Little misschewy and I to share.
When in Kanazawa, eat GOLD FOIL soft serve ice cream!
There were a few stalls outside Kenrokuen Garden selling gold foil ice cream at various prices and we randomly purchased from one at ¥890 (S$11). Definitely not cheap but so delicious! I’m not sure if the gold foil played a role in enhancing the soft serve’s taste!
Enjoying my precious ice cream outside Kanazawa Castle!
We headed to Omicho Market, in search of some of the freshest seafood available! It was late afternoon by the time we got there, thus the market was not very packed.
We ate uni straight out of its shell at only ¥500 (S$6)!
Little misschewy was shocked to see a gigantic fish head that she ran to us, whimpering that she was scared. Hahaha.
Stopped by Sushi Zanmai for more food, plus we needed to sit and rest after a long day.
We visited one of the many temples in Kanazawa and shortly upon our arrival, it began to drizzle.
Most of the tea houses were closed by the time we reached Higashi Chaya District in the evening.
There are a couple of shopping centres around Kanazawa station which is very convenient for tourists. It didn’t take us very long to decide what to have for dinner! Good thing we got there early because a queue was seen forming outside Tomikinton Kanazawa Forus shortly after we placed our orders.
The tonkatsu was seriously good! The outer crumbs were fluffy and crisp while the meat was amazingly tender and juicy! Rice, side dishes, cabbage, miso soup and tea are all free-flow!
Walked around the mall for a bit before calling it a night!
We will be sharing details on our trip to Shirakawa-go in our next post! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂
THE CHEWYS’ MARCH 2016 JAPAN 10D9N ITINERARY
(Tokyo – Osaka – Kyoto – Kanazawa – Shirakawago)
Day 1: Singapore to Narita Airport > JR Narita Express to Tokyo > Check into Airbnb at Kita-Ikebukuro > Asakusa Temple & Shopping Street > Shopping and dinner at Sunshine City
Day 2: Tokyo Disneyland
Day 3: Tsukiji Fish Market > Ueno Park > Shopping at Ameya-Yokocho Market > Tea at Fujiya Peko-chan Milky Restaurant > Pokemon Centre at Sunshine City > Dinner at Ichiran
Day 4: Tokyo DisneySea
Day 5: Fujiko•F•Fujio Museum (Doraemon Museum) and Doraemon Cafe > Shopping and dinner at Harajuku
Day 6: Shinkasen from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka > Check into Airbnb at Shin-Osaka > Osaka Castle > Dinner at Dotonburi (Namba station, Midosuji line)
Day 7: Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto > Kiyomizu-dera Temple > Kimono rental and outdoor photoshoot > Dinner at Kichi-Kichi Omurice > Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka
Day 8: Thunderbird Limited Express from Shin-Osaka to Kanazawa > Check into Hotel Nikko Kanazawa > Kenroku-en Garden > Kanazawa Castle > Lunch at Sushi Zanmai > Omicho Market > Higashi Chaya District > Tonkatsu dinner at Tomikinton (富金豚)
Day 9: Nouhi bus from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go > Sightseeing around Shirakawa-go > Nouhi bus from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa > Thunderbird Limited Express from Kanazawa to Shin-Osaka > Dinner at Dotonburi (Namba station, Midosuji line)
Day 10: Kansai Airport Limited Express “Haruka” from Shin-Osaka to Kansai Airport > HOME SWEET HOME
is that a toddler tula? I am still thinking if it is worth to get for Zach
Yes it is. You might want to wait till he’s a little older/bigger 🙂
nice pic. market in kanazawa looks interesting. did you visit korinbo?
Hi there, no we didn’t visit Korinbo as we didn’t have time.
Your girl is really bundled up! She almost looks like a comfy pillow there (a very cute one, that is!!) LOL
Haha very squishy and huggable!
Hi, we’re doing the same trip in November, with toddlers too.. how was the bus to shirakawago? How did little miss chewy take it? Did she need her own ticket?
She didn’t need a ticket and she sat on misterchewy’s lap for the entire journey. Just need to prepare snacks and something (iPad in our case) to distract the toddlers!
Hi!
May i know if Kurokuen, Kanazawa castle & Omicho are all walkable distance from each other? Thanks!
Kenrokuen Garden and Kanazawa Castle are across each other but Omicho is located slightly further away. Need to take bus!
ok, thanks a lot! 🙂