Taking Thunderbird from Kyoto to Kanazawa

We are inside a bullet train called the Thunderbird, that’s taking us from Osaka to Kanazawa. And the train is spacious enough for me to write.

I am writing from a moving train! This is precisely how I have been dreaming of my future life in Japan.

Me. A writer. Writing about Japan from my perspective while, of course, living in Japan. Preferably Tokyo. But I don’t fuss too much. Well, maybe not in Kyoto anymore. Because I err… wasn’t all that crazy about Kyoto this time around. Perhaps I came with too high of an expectation.

We are travelling through the mountain, with cherry blossoms trees waving hi every now and then from the roadsides.

So we are on our way to Kanazawa.

Instead of replying to urgent queries, gulping another cup of Nashi coffee and listening to people’s bullshit, I am on my way to Kanazawa!

I know nothing about Kanazawa. Except that it’s called Japan’s best-kept secret, OMG is such clickbait.

Years ago I religiously translate-read a Japanese blog called I Live in Japan 7 by a girl who went by Y. It portrayed Japan in simple ways through her (sometimes )complex thoughts. Her writings were ageless and I respected her tenancy to write In English.   One day Y wrote about visiting her grandparents who lived in Kanazawa over a long weekend. She wrote lovingly about her time there, and of her grandma and their house. About visiting the market and buying Omiyage for her colleagues. She also wrote how her grandma sent her off with some Kanazawa delicacies to be eaten on the train (Ekiben) on the way back to Tokyo where she was residing. That one blog entry inspired me to visit Kanazawa and there I was.   The first thing to notice about Kanazawa is the train station. it’s pretty iconic. Following Y’s blog entry, I wanted to visit the Omicho market, but no such luck. Either it was closed on the day or I was too late or I didn’t follow the map correctly. We then stopped at Kanazawa palace, and were delighted to see that Sakura was still blooming here! So we sat down for an impromptu hanami accompanied by gold leaf soft serve ice cream.   The memorable parts of my Kanazawa trip were the Golden Monkey and the nice dinner we had In a random Izakaya somewhere. Kanazawa will always have a special place in my heart just for the reason why I visited it in the first place. Because of a blog post, written in the Japanese language by a stranger.

I am urged to do a tarot spread, but I wonder how weirded-out the Japanese salaryman sitting beside me would be. Maybe I’ll pull a card instead.

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Two of Cups. How lovely. I am getting more excited about Kanazawa 🙂

I mean, c’mon! Life couldn’t be better than this. Oh yeah, I am wearing my Hogwarts sweater too. I just WhatsApp-ed Fafa, who sat behind as we didn’t get a couple of seats this time. I told him:

“I am beyond happy. So very grateful.”

Ps. I tried to find Y’s blog to link it here but couldn’t find it anywhere. I emailed her ━ hopefully, she will reply. Meanwhile, here is another blog about a daily Japanese life I have been read-translate, called Non-Bendarari.

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