Kanazawa

Omicho Market

Kanazawa's coastal market on the Sea of Japan: sweet botan shrimp, crab and yellowtail. Crab season is from November to March, and that is when it is at its best.

Maps

Market · Kanazawa

Omicho Market: a breakfast of crab and uni

You start at a market that counts its years from 1721: about 170 shops in covered lanes, with snow crab in winter, sweet shrimp (amaebi) and

¥2,500 · ≈ $16MapsFull itinerary

Kanazawa · Gold leaf

Hakuichi Higashiyama

A branch of Hakuichi, a gold leaf maker from Kanazawa, in the building of an old public bathhouse in the Higashi Chaya district. A small tube of edible gold flakes (0.03 grams) for decorating food costs ¥2,160, and keeps for a year from the production date. The shop is open every day 9:00 to 18:00 and the cafe until 17:00. Soft-serve ice cream wrapped in a whole sheet of gold leaf, sold on site, started at this branch.

¥2,160 · ≈ $14MapsSource

✓ Price checked September 2026

Kanazawa · Gold leaf

Kinpaku-ya Sakuda

A gold leaf maker near the Higashi Chaya district that sells gold products and runs a gold leaf application workshop. The cheap item is oil blotting papers for the face, made from the paper used in beating the gold: 30 sheets cost ¥385. The workshop lasts about an hour, four times a day from 9:00, and participants get a 10 percent discount on purchases in the shop that day. The shop is open 9:00 to 17:00, and the hours change with the season.

¥385 · ≈ $2MapsSource

✓ Price checked September 2026

Kenrokuen · Garden

Kenrokuen Garden

A 17th-century garden that Ishikawa Prefecture counts among the three great gardens of Japan: ponds, the Kotoji stone lantern on its two legs, and a fountain said to be the first in Japan. ¥320. Every morning before opening you can enter free through two gates. In winter ropes are strung over the pines against the snow, and that is the photo.

¥320 · ≈ $2MapsSource

✓ Price checked November 2026

About this place and what is nearby

Kenrokuen · Free

Kanazawa Castle Park

A castle rebuilt with traditional methods: long wooden halls with white lead roofs. The park is free, the buildings ¥320. The inner garden, Gyokusen-inmaru, with a teahouse, was restored in 2015.

FreeMapsSource

✓ Price checked September 2026

About this place and what is nearby

Higashi Chaya · Free

Higashi Chaya District

A district of wooden teahouses from 1820 with dark lattices, where geigi, Kanazawa's geisha, still perform. The streets are free, the Shima teahouse is open to visitors for ¥500 and Kaikaro for ¥750. This is where Hakuichi's gold leaf ice cream (¥1,189) was born.

FreeMapsSource

✓ Price checked October 2026

About this place and what is nearby

Kanazawa · Craft

Gold Leaf Sakuda

At the Sakuda gold leaf shop in the Higashiyama district you design a pattern with masking tape, apply thin gold leaf to chopsticks, a plate or a mirror, and take the item with you right away. It lasts about an hour and the price depends on the item, including materials: chopsticks ¥1,760 and a round plate ¥2,310. From 1 January 2027 the prices go up, the chopsticks to ¥1,980 and the plate to ¥2,750. There are four sessions a day, at 9:00, 10:30, 13:00 and 15:00, and the website has an English version.

¥1,760 · ≈ $11MapsSourceBook on Klook

✓ Price checked September 2026

Kanazawa · Craft

Kaga Yuzen Kimono Center

At the Kaga-yuzen center you hand-paint a handkerchief in the colors of the Kaga-yuzen technique and leave with it the same day. The freehand painting lasts about an hour and costs ¥2,750, with last admission at 15:00, and stencil dyeing, shorter and simpler, costs ¥1,650. A group of up to 4 people can come without booking, from 5 people you book a week ahead, and the place accepts visitors from abroad. The center is closed on Wednesdays, and entry to the exhibition costs ¥500.

¥2,750 · ≈ $17MapsSource

✓ Price checked September 2026

Kanazawa · Food

Morihachi Main Store

On the second floor of the main store of Morihachi, a confectioner that served as sweets supplier to the ruling dynasty of Kaga, you press dry rakugan sweets in wooden molds, eat some with matcha and take the rest home in a box. It lasts 40 minutes and costs ¥1,870, including entry to the sweet mold museum in the same building. You book at least two days ahead, minimum two people, at the 10:00 and 15:00 sessions. The museum has an audio guide in English, and the sweets are not kosher.

¥1,870 · ≈ $12MapsSource

✓ Price checked September 2026