Kanazawa · Kanazawa Station
Tsuzumi-mon Gate
The plaza at the East Exit of Kanazawa Station, the Kenroku-en Exit, opened in 2005, ten years before the Shinkansen reached the city. Above it is the Motenashi Dome, the 'hospitality dome': according to the tourism bureau, the idea was to open an umbrella over people stepping off the train in a city of rain and snow. According to the city, the dome is made of 3,019 panes of tempered glass and is up to 29.5 meters high.
Tsuzumi Gate at the front of the dome is designed like the tsuzumi drum of Noh theater. It is 13.7 meters high, stands on two thick pillars, and was built from 320 tons of Oregon pine. The passage through it is 7.5 meters wide.
In 2011 the online edition of the American magazine Travel + Leisure picked Kanazawa Station as one of the 14 most beautiful stations in the world, according to the Kanazawa tourism bureau.
Good to know
- Every hour on the hour, from sunset to midnight, the gate is lit for two minutes in the five colors of Kaga. On weekdays each day has its own color: Monday crimson, Tuesday indigo, Wednesday green, Thursday ochre and Friday purple. On weekends and holidays all five colors, two minutes each.
- The city buses stop under the dome. The loop bus costs ¥220 a ride, and a one-day pass for the city buses is ¥800.
- At the base of the gate there is a fountain that shows the time and words of welcome in water.
What is nearby
Approximate walking minutes from the entrance of Tsuzumi-mon Gate.
- HereTsuzumi-mon Gate
- 1 min
Kanazawa Hyakubangai Anto Street
The souvenir and restaurant mall inside the station, in three parts: Anto, Anto West and Rinto. Anto has most of the souvenir shops of Kanazawa brands and a row of restaurants open into the evening.
- 1 min
Kaga Bocha Maruhachi Seichajo Shopping
A shop for bocha, tea roasted from the stems of tea leaves, the local tea of Kaga. Sales only, no cafe.
- 1 min
Hakuichi Hyakubangai Shopping
A branch of the gold leaf maker inside Anto: crafts, blotting papers and cosmetics with gold. The gold leaf ice cream is not sold here.
- ~2 min
Kuroyuri Food
A restaurant serving oden and seasonal dishes since 1953, inside Anto. 41 seats, 15 of them at the counter. Booking is recommended, and if the oden runs out they close early.
- ~3 min
Morimori Sushi, Kanazawa Forus Food
Conveyor belt sushi with fish from the ports of Noto and Kanazawa, on floor 6 of the Forus mall across from the station. No reservations. On the same floor is a sister branch without a conveyor, Notomae Morimori, which takes reservations for weekday evenings.
Appears in: Kanazawa: Omicho Market, the geisha district, Kenroku-en Garden and gold leaf