Won the travel lottery, here’s a whole city
One of the things I’m really good at, and probably one of the reasons that text works as well as it does, is recommending stuff. Nothing really lights me up as much as those moments when I can wave my arms and yell LOOK AT THIS COOL THING I FOUND. I found another cool thing, which we’ll get to, but first I have to talk about the travel recommendation power ranking.
At the bottom of the travel power ranking is a single thing at a single place. Perhaps you found a cool object at a boutique, or an unexpected item on a restaurant’s menu. People might already be planning on going there anyway, but now you come in a little more informed.
Next is the place itself. This counts for extra if people haven’t already heard of it. (You are not the first person to recommend Tsukiji in Tokyo.) It counts for double extra if it’s off the beaten path, family run, or ungrammable. (Quality is generally ungrammable.)
A notch up is a small district, or a cluster of stores or restaurants, known for doing what they do. Berkeley’s sadly-named Gourmet Ghetto, a two-block swath of impossibly delicious restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and grocery purveyors, qualifies here. You may have heard of Chez Panisse, patient zero of this area; but you may not have heard of Cheese Board Pizza, one of the loveliest spots in the whole Bay Area, which is right across the street.
Next up is a neighborhood, which in the west is how gentrification happens. Logan Square & Avondale, the neighborhoods where I’ve lived for the past 14 years, have been on various “coolest neighborhoods in America” lists since before the Obama administrations. Usually there are no secrets when it comes to neighborhoods – which is why when you’re traveling and find one that people have legitimately never heard of, it feels like an astonishing secret, something you just won hard at. Finding an off-the-map neighborhood that rules allows you to have a clean, easy, interesting answer to “how did your travels go”, which everybody will be asking you for a month or two, and which you had better be prepared for.
At the top, then, is a whole city. Cities cannot hide. They are right there. They are usually easy to access, and legible on face. So when a whole city does suddenly become a lot easier to visit, and nobody gets the memo, and then a pandemic happens for three years that effectively cuts off access, you feel like you’re in on an important secret. It feels like you just won the travel lottery in a way that people just live for.
One might think well, if I speak the name of the city, then it will be thronged with tourists and hence “ruined.” Fair. But there is no way that Kanazawa is going to stay secret for long. Your silence only serves to slow a thing that will happen. Plus, I heard about Kanazawa from Craig Mod, who has a lot more reach on this specific topic than I ever could.
Japan just reopened; I’ve never seen so many foreigners here. Meanwhile, Kanazawa got a Shinkansen stop in 2015, so you can get there from Tokyo Station in less than three hours. If doubling back isn’t your thing, there’s a straight-shot high-speed train from Kanazawa to Kyoto & Osaka. “Shinkansen” isn’t in its name, and fortunately you don’t care. Everyone knows this. It’s on the map.
It is preposterous to recommend a whole city that has existed in some form for over 2,000 years, which flourished 400 years ago and has acted as a major center of craft & design for effectively that whole period. Kanazawa contains one of the most important gardens in Japan. But I’m guessing not many of you reading this know of Kanazawa, and I think you should. I think it should be on the standard map of places people go in Japan, especially if it’s your second or third time.
Most hello-worldy Japan trips take the Shinkansen to Osaka & Kyoto out and back, spending a few days in each. I think it makes more sense to decompress from the feral absurdiae of Tokyo by making a loop north. Kanazawa is so small that a single bus (bus!) loop hits pretty much everything. There are a half-dozen small museums, mostly focused on craft, design, contemporary art, and architecture. There are three(!) separate teahouse districts, and all of them are less tourist-choked than Gion ever could be. The food is different than anything you can get in Osaka, Tokyo, or Kyoto, focused largely on grilled seafood caught to the north, usually served in donburi bowls. The sake is all local and amazing.
Some of you probably have Narita flights booked. If you add Kanazawa to your itinerary, let me know and I’ll reply with a more detailed recommendation list. You’ll probably feel like you won something.