Discovering Kanazawa and Takayama

If your travel trip allows 2 weeks to explore Japan, consider a side trip to the city of Kanazawa located on the Sea of Japan and the surrounding villages. During the Edo Period (1603-1867) the city was a political and cultural center with Kyoto as rival.
Today, the city has well-preserved neighborhoods, great museums and gardens, and keeps its position as one of Japan’s centers of traditional art and culture.
We suggest at least three or four days to explore Kanazawa and the environs, on you trip between Tokyo and Kyoto, from Nagoya with a night in Takayama and a visit to Shirakawago, located between Takayama and Kanazawa and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The city of Kanazawa’s best-known attraction is the Kenrokuen gardens, the Nagamachi former samurai district, the chaya teahouse neighborhood and the Ninja-dera Temple, with its secret doors and traps.
Takayama is a smaller city in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture with a well-preserved Old Town of wooden shops and homes.

We at My Japan Guide can of course help you organizing the trip. Please contact us.

Stinky, sticky beans…the Natto

Among all the soybean found in Japanese cuisine, natto, the sticky, fermented soybeans generally served over rice is probably the hardest to get visitors to eat. Even some Japanese people ponder about it.
Even those who don’t like natto confess it is very good for you, that it reduces blood clots and that it’s good for circulation. It’s with no preservatives, high in protein, with a lot of dietary fiber and “trendily” gluten free.
So why does it stink?
The bad image of its smells comes from the industrial, mass-manufactured foods. Fresh natto is different in texture and smell. Equal to beef in protein, it’s also 9 times richer than beef in vitamin and 3 times richer in vitamin B2. It helps improve the immune system.
So please give it a try when in Japan. At My Japan Guide we have a rule which is to make you discover this Japanese “delicacy” and it’s our gift to everyone touring with us.