At breakfast. This hotel serves "buffet" style.
In Japan some places still use "Viking" as a "buffet"
In old times, we didn't hear the word "buffet" much.
We planned to take the train to Tojinbou.
Take the train for 三国港 : Mikuni kou.
This train station is hidden behind the bus ticket center.
Please walk clockwise of the center.
We can buy one-day ticket with 800 yen only in the weekends. You can buy the ticket center in the station of Echizen Railway. Some stations don't have station staffs.
You can get on and off at every station on the map in a day. Do not throw this away.
In this station, a dinosaur is sitting on the bench.
First, I thought someone(a human) was sitting here.
There was an ad behind the dinosaur. Then I found out why it was here. In Fukui there was a dinosaur museum.
That's why it was also a kind of ad.
We took this train. On the back ground there was a hotel we stayed. Only 3-4 minutes walk from Fukui Station.
Inside the train. The train is one car(carriage).
In some stations, entrance and exit are limited.
Some people taking the train from self-service stations have to pay inside the trains.
It was a different world compared with Kanto area.
There was a big river called "九頭竜川 : Kuzuryu gawa"
I think there was a big rice field around here.
This is the terminal station called "三国港(Mikunikou)"
When you get to Tojinbou, there are two ways to go.
You can get off at "三国駅(Mikuni Sta.)" or "三国港”.
If you get off at 三国駅, the lady in the information center said the bus stop is in front of the station.
If you get off at 三国港, you have to walk in two minutes.
There is no place to prevent the cold wind...
I There is a small hut in the station. You can use it to prevent the cold wind. After you walk in the right side path next to the hut, you can cross the railway.
Here is the bus stop called "三国港"
The fare of the bus is 270 yen from 三国駅 and is 190 yen from 三国港. Which do you prefer, waiting for the bus in cold wind or I guess, you don't need to wait for the bus in cold wind in Mikuni Sta.( I've never been to Mikuni Sta. So I can't tell you exactly. Sorry.)
Be careful. The bus is fewer. Once an hour.
I think you can catch taxis from 三国駅 but it is hard to catch in 三国港.
I made a plan with the best connection between the train and the bus but we have to wait in 15 minutes. It was really cold.
Behind the bus stop, you can see 日本海(Nihonkai : the Sea of Japan)
Under construction about Tojinbou
It was freezing cold there so I would like to go to the bathroom. So I went to a restaurant and ordered ice cream(We call this kind of ice cream "soft cream" which is Japanese English) Then I could use the toilet.
This one is a special ice cream. Ikasumi soft cream.
Ikasumi (squid ink) イカスミソフトクリーム
イカ＝squid スミ＝ink
Here is Tojinbou（東尋坊）
In winter season, we can't get on a ferry for sightseeing.
Because of the heavy wind and waves.
Tojinbou is famous for the stiff cliffs. It is a rare shape in Japan and also in the world.
It was not a sunny day but sometimes we could see the sunlight from the clouds. It was beautiful.
This place was famous for committing a suicide.
Some dramas were used here. But these days it was not used for this. Because some people really tried it.
It is said that there is a phone booth to prevent people from trying a suicide.
From Wikipediea, there was a naughty monk in old times.
His name is Tojinbou. Other monks were annoyed by him very much. One day he fell in love with a beautiful princess. Another monk called "Kakunen Magara" also loved her. They quarreled with each other about her. One day monks in a temple went on a trip here. They drank too much. Then, Tojinbou fell asleep. So Magara and other monks pull Tojinbou down from the cliffs. It is said that it was April 5th, 1182 so around April 5th, the weather goes worse every year.
If I took one more step, I would fall down...
After Tojinbou, we had lunch. There are some restaurants and souvenir shops around here like a street.
I ordered this. It costs about 1280 yen... This one is a small size. Taste so-so for me.
My friend suddenly suggested me to walk from Tojinbou to the nearest station. But it was very cold and snow left.
I didn't walk but he insisted to go... What a f....!!
I had to walk in 30 minutes.... I made a plan by myself.
It was perfect but he destroyed it.... What a f...!!!!
(Sorry for my curse words... I've never used the word to anyone... But this time I said it in my mind...)
Going back to Fukui Station. Take Thunderbird(サンダーバード） to Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. Before getting on the train, we went to a souvenir shop in front of Fukui station, actually in front of "Seven Eleven" around the corner.
You can buy some good souvenirs about Fukui in the shop.
This price included a reserved seat. It takes one hour from Fukui to Kanazawa.
Got off at Kanazawa.
Kanazawa Station was huge and very crowded.
You can see some tourists here. After passing the gates, turn right and walk about 30 seconds. Inside the station, on the left, there was a tourist information center.
Here they have a booth for English speakers.
The bus information. It was hard for Japanese to understand it, too.
In front of the station. Huge bus stops. There were some lines each stop. I didn't know which bus I had to take.
You don't have to use a umbrella here.
There were some tall hotels around Kanazawa.
If you want to buy One Day Ticket, you should walk clockwise around the bus stops. Then you can see Starbucks on your left and next to it, there was an entrance of a mall. Then, around the corner of the next block, there was a bus ticket office of Hokuriku Railway(北立鉄道)
You can also ask which buses you should take here.
They are professional so if you ask them, they can answer quickly. ( I tried to search a lot on the web but I couldn't get well... The buses in Kanazawa are very complicated.)
You can buy some tickets during the working hours.
If you buy "Loop Bus One Day Pass", the ticket has some privileges for some art museums. It is not written on the card and in the art museums. In some museums, please show your ticket before you buy a ticket.
I bought it February 10th, 2013. So it was already scratched when I bought it. But I put it in my pocket so some parts got some scratches. Watch out. If you scratch a different part, it couldn't work. You are considered as you committed an illegal act. It's easy to be scratched.
年 : Year 月：Month 日 : Day
And this one was bought for the next day. You can see that the background color is the silver with numbers.
Please check this URL.
http://www.hokutetsu.co.jp/joshaken/kanko/shuyu.html
Here is a list of museums you can get a discount.
Before you buy a ticket in a museum, you should show the Loop Bus One Day Pass.
On this trip, I could use it in Shima, Ishikawa Prefectual Museum of Art, 21st Century of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
From a taxi, the front of Kanazawa station.
We went to Fukumitsuya(Sake maker and shop)
About two weeks ago, we made an appointment to observe and taste Sake shop. There are two courses, A and B. On the weekends, we can only take B course.
We only see a few places outside the sake factory. But you can taste sake for free. It took about 30 minutes.
We were going through the path next to the shop.
The signboard says that from ancient times there is a traditional custom to hang the cube shaped ball called "Sakabayashi" which was made from leaves of cedar trees, in front of the sake shop.
This is a symbol of beautiful(delicious) sake to make Sakabayashi in the shape of a cedar tree which is a holy tree of God of Sake.
Here is a sake factory of Hukumitsuya.
There is a well. Sake in Hukumitsuya is made from this water. Most of places in Japan underground water is a soft water. But here is rare. The water is a little bit hard water.
Everyone can drink this water. The signboard says "When you pick up the water, please ask a shop clerk."
I strongly recommend you to take an empty pet bottle with you.
In B course, we couldn't watch inside the factory.
First 10 minutes watching the movie about a Sake History of Hukumitsuya. And next 5 minutes we see the well.
And then tasting time.
There are water of the well in the white paper cups to purify your tongue after tasting. They served us some tasting food. You can buy them in here.
We could taste four kinds of sake on that day. The bottle with a red label is the only sake you can buy in this shop.
There are some shops in Tokyo. You can use Online shop.
http://www.fukumitsuya.co.jp/ Official Website
http://www.fukumitsuya.com/ Online shop
Ex.
冷やす（ひやす : hiyasu) ◎ -> cold
常温 (じょうおん : jouon) ◯ -> room temperature
お燗 (おかん : Okan) × -> hot
Next we went to 主計町茶屋街(Kazuemachi Chayagai).
In old times there were expensive restaurants for rich people around here. Now it seemed the old ones and the new ones.
Here is the back alley.
The view from the bridge.
Next, we moved to ひがし茶屋街（Higashi chayagai)
This is a soy-sauce shop. ヤマト醤油(Yamato Shouyu)
You can eat soy-sauce flavored ice(soft) cream.
I strongly recommend you to eat this. It was not so strong flavor but the taste was a little deep body of soy-sauce.
This was the first experience.
You can buy some kinds of soy-sauce here.
When I came into the shop, it was almost closing time.
A young shop woman was very kind and talked.
Walk in a few minutes. There was a signboard.
Turn left to Higashi Geisha District.(ひがし茶屋街）
On this corner there is a barber.
Kind of a different world. Turn right and then...
Time warp!! It looks like Gion in Kyoto.
This house is a National important cultural property.
It was built in 1820. At that time, rich people enjoyed Geisha plays on the second floor.
The ceiling of the 1st floor is low and one on the 2nd is taller compared with normal houses. It was made especially for Geisha plays. Here is one of the most important property in Japan.
You can enter this house. The fare is 400 yen. If you have some brochures or Saison International card or something, you can discount 50 yen. (350 yen)
You have to take off your shoes and also put your belongings to a coin locker for free(but you need 100 yen coin) to prevent the damages. You can take photos by only a small camera. iPhone was permitted. My iPad was not permitted. So I couldn't take any photos at all.
One caution : The employees are not well-trained and we felt snobbish.
A man in a ticket window was very weird. He chucked us the tickets after paying without saying "Thank you" as normal Japanese say.
There was a middle aged man explaining about the rooms for free. He looked a gentleman but his saying was a kind of looking-down-on us.
I guess he would like to explain that this house is a special place and at that time ordinary people was not able to come inside the house. But when he explained it, he emphasized it too much so it sounds arrogant and snobbish. If you feel so, we as a Japanese apologize to you instead of them.
But I strongly recommend you to go inside the house.
You should take a small camera with you.
This is a map of Higashi Geisha District.
Around 6 pm. It was getting dark.
There are some restaurants, cafe and souvenir shops.
