Kanazawa

Kanazawa was never bombed, so its old districts are the real thing rather than reconstructions. Two of them matter: Nagamachi, where earthen walls still enclose the samurai quarter, and Higashi Chaya, a street of two-storey wooden teahouses on the other side of the river. Both are small and both are best walked early, when the light is low and the tour groups are still at the garden.

Kenroku-en is the garden everybody comes for, and it earns the reputation, though it is at its best either in the first hour after opening or under snow. The more surprising stop is Omicho market, which is a working fish market rather than a food court, and where a bowl of sashimi over rice at a counter costs a fraction of what the same thing does in Tokyo. Go before noon.

The city sits on the Hokuriku shinkansen, which puts it about two and a half hours from Tokyo, but its real value on a route is as the western end of the mountain crossing. Buses from Takayama reach it in a little over two hours through the Shirakawa-go valley, so the alpine detour ends here and rejoins fast rail rather than doubling back. That is the argument for two nights: one for the districts, one for the garden and market, and a clean onward connection either east or south.