Misato took me to Kanazawa for my 30th birthday to do some sake touring/tasting. We took the shinkansen from omiya to Echigoyuzawa, and then an express train to kanezawa, but the express train was a bit rocky and we both felt a little sea sick. First day we went to a distillery called Yachiya run by a cute grandpa guy. This is the owner talking about the pressing process in front of the big pressing machine. Of course it was all in Japanese and I could catch some parts, but not everything. I did catch that women arent allowed in this one room, where the rice is germinating with the koji in fermentation process, supposedly because of the chemicals in make up, but im pretty sure it just something reminiscent of male domination.
At the end of the tour we had a vast selection of free samples.
After all the sake touring/tasting/buying we took the bus back to the station which has a huge Tori (gate usually for shrines) in front.
Then we went out to the historic part of town where there is a lot of remade tea houses and a 1 or 2 originals still standing after 200 years or so.
There was also a gold leaf wall house in the middle of this historic area.
We then found our way to this park outside of the castle with many statues.
Finally we made it to the castle which is a rebuilt wall of the original castle, but the front is a huge beautiful park.
After the castle we went back to the hotel for a little relaxing time and to watch the sumo tournament currently going on in Nagoya. Then Misato had made reservations for a nice full sake menu dinner, Japanese style with many dishes and a HUGE desert plate.
The next day we went to another sake distillery where there was a DVD with english subtitles so I could understand more of the process. This distillery allowed women into the fermentation room, as long as they werent wearing make up, more equal rights here at Sakagura. Apparently there is no sake being made in the summer because it is really hot and the rice isnt fresh off the rice paddy. The prime sake making time in January to April. We were allowed to taste 3 types of summer sake and eat a few treats. 1 of the treats was Fugu eggs which are apparently poisonus(like fugu fish) unless you pickle them for 3 years. Pretty tasty for fish eggs that were pickled for 3 years.
After the sake tasting we went to a famous park Kenryokuen, a former samurai house with a nice Japanese garden (in the picture) and the part of town called shrine/temple city, where there we went to a shrine that was for everything. Some shrines are specific for example cancer or if you want a child. We got a little private tour for 500 yen each and got to walk around the garden at the end. The samurai house was just a normal house, where a samurai lived, I was expecting something fancy because he was a samurai.
On the way home I bought a kanazawa local beer and the most delicious Ice Cream, as you can see its super premium.
On the way home Misato noticed the shinkansen was turning 30 too!
Finally we made it to the castle which is a rebuilt wall of the original castle, but the front is a huge beautiful park.
After the castle we went back to the hotel for a little relaxing time and to watch the sumo tournament currently going on in Nagoya. Then Misato had made reservations for a nice full sake menu dinner, Japanese style with many dishes and a HUGE desert plate.
The next day we went to another sake distillery where there was a DVD with english subtitles so I could understand more of the process. This distillery allowed women into the fermentation room, as long as they werent wearing make up, more equal rights here at Sakagura. Apparently there is no sake being made in the summer because it is really hot and the rice isnt fresh off the rice paddy. The prime sake making time in January to April. We were allowed to taste 3 types of summer sake and eat a few treats. 1 of the treats was Fugu eggs which are apparently poisonus(like fugu fish) unless you pickle them for 3 years. Pretty tasty for fish eggs that were pickled for 3 years.
After the sake tasting we went to a famous park Kenryokuen, a former samurai house with a nice Japanese garden (in the picture) and the part of town called shrine/temple city, where there we went to a shrine that was for everything. Some shrines are specific for example cancer or if you want a child. We got a little private tour for 500 yen each and got to walk around the garden at the end. The samurai house was just a normal house, where a samurai lived, I was expecting something fancy because he was a samurai.
On the way home Misato noticed the shinkansen was turning 30 too!
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