Gold-leaf ice cream in an old geisha district
Kanazawa makes over 99% of Japan's gold leaf, helped by its damp climate and good water. Stroll the old geisha district with a soft-serve wrapped in a whole sheet of gold, try applying gold leaf yourself, and sip matcha in a 200-year-old teahouse. It is about 2.5 hours from Tokyo on the Hokuriku Shinkansen.
A whole sheet of gold leaf is wrapped around the soft-serve here, for 1,189 yen. Eat it as you walk the teahouse street; on holidays, expect a line.
Apply gold leaf yourself to chopsticks, a hand mirror or a small box, and take home a finished craft piece in about an hour. Sessions run four times a day, so booking ahead is safer.
In its courtyard stands a storehouse whose outer walls are covered in pure gold leaf. The shop sells gold-leaf crafts and cosmetics, from tableware to gold-leaf blotting papers, a classic Kanazawa souvenir.
Teahouses with fine wooden lattices line both sides of a stone-paved lane, where geiko, as geisha are called here, still entertain guests. Many of the old buildings now house gold-leaf shops and cafés, and early morning is the quietest time to walk.
A teahouse built in 1820 and kept as it was, now a National Important Cultural Property. See the guest rooms where geiko danced, with their vermilion walls, then have matcha and a sweet in the back tearoom overlooking the garden.