Mar 11, Day 3: Planes, Trains, and Busses

After the biggest breakfast buffet I have ever seen and just 20 minutes to enjoy it before I had to check out, I and other stranded passengers boarded the bus to Haneda Airport, a mere 80 km away.

Just a small part of the breakfast buffet

Dining room Hotel Nikko Narita

Yes, I'm using the metric system, just like the rest of the world except for you-know-who and about 2.5 countries nobody can find on a map anyways. You all have smart phones, so Google how many miles that would be, or just rest assured with the knowledge that it's 1.5 hours by bus. Rush hour in Tokyo-seemed like we would never make it on time, but we did. Notice how I didn't panic this time, even though was thinking about it a few times.

On the same Denver flight, there was an American man, his Japanese wife and their little son, who I ran into at the hotel and the Haneda bus. Turns out they live in Kanazawa and were seated next to me on the plane to Komatsu, even though we checked in at two different counters. My chance to interview them about places to go to! We made it to Komatsu on time, I found the bus to Kanazawa and Lynda met me at Kanazawa Station.

Bus ride along the coast from the airport to Kanazawa


Entrance Kanazawa Station


Time displayed by water


Kids wearing traditional clothing

A taxi took us to our Minshuku Ginmatsu through streets so narrow, they had to lube up the cab to get through.

Minshuku Ginmatsu

A minshuku is a simple place of lodging, with tatami mats on the floor, futons, and toilets and showers somewhere down the hall. Or on a different storey. Minshuku Ginmatsu is the oldest lodging building in Kanazawa and you need a map to find your way through it. Lots of suddenly occuring narrow hallways and steep steps.

Our room


Table with heated table cloth. You sit on a pillow on the floor and stick your knees underneath

These old houses don't have heaters except for some electric heaters in the room. The walls are thin and not insulated. Going to the toilet at night is like leaving your bed to walk along a corridor of ice to then park your derrier on a heated toilet seat while the rest of the body shivers from envy.

Then there's the slipper thing.
As a rule, you don't enter a house with your shoes on. You take them off in the foyer, leave them on a shelf and change into slippers. Because you never know who's coming, the slippers are made to fit anyone, meaning they are several sizes too big for me. The trick is to make it up the very steep stairs with your baggage without tripping on those much too large slippers, resulting in a YouTube-worthy (best case) or police report-worthy (totally want to avoid) scenario.


Then, if you do muster up enough courage to risk getting lost in the corridors of ice you have to change into toilet slippers before climbing the throne. That's right-you leave those big nuisance slippers at the toilet door, slip into the bathroom slippers and do the whole thing in reverse when you're done. Pimsleur should make a course about that!