Kanazawa

Introduction

Kanazawa is the capital city of Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture in the Chubu region.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

Events and Festivals

Weather

Kanazawa has a subtropical humid climate with warm, wet summers and winters which don't see much rain but snow in January and February is quite heavy at 1-1,5 metres a month. Summers last from June to September when average highs are mostly between 25 and 31 °C and nights are between 17 and 23 °C. Winters from December to February see highs of 6-10 °C and lows of 0-3 °C. Unlike many Japanese places, the total montly precipitation is higher in winter because of the combination of high amounts of snow combined with still some rain. Most of the rain proper falls from April to September though.

Getting There

By Plane

Komatsu Airport (KMQ) has regular domestic flights to Tokyo, Fukuoka, Sapporo and Okinawa, as well as international flights to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Taipei and Seoul.

By Train

Japan Railways offers the Hokuriku line linking Kanazawa with Fukui (50 minutes), Kyoto (2¼ hours), Osaka (2¾ hours) and Toyama (35 minutes). From Tokyo take the Jōetsu shinkansen and change at Echigo-Yuzawa in Northern Honshū (four hours). The Nanao line connects Kanazawa with Wakura Onsen on Noto-hantō (one hour).

By Car

By Bus

Hokutetsu Kanko Bus Company has express buses from Kanazawa station’s east exit, to Tokyo (7½ hours), Yokohama (eight hours), Kyoto (4¼ hours) and Nagoya (four hours).

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Work

Learn

• Kanazawa University

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Post

The Japanese postal service is excellent! Domestic and international mail service is very quick and reliable. The prices for sending letters, postcards and parcels vary depending on where you send if from and to which country you send it too, and of course depends on weight as well, so check this calculation page of Japan Post for more details. Post offices generally are open from 9:00am to 5:00pm on weekdays, closing at weekends and also on national holidays, though a few open on Saturdays from 9:00am to 3:00pm. Central post offices are sometimes open until 7:00pm, open on Saturdays from 9:00am to 5:00pm and on Sundays and holidays from 9:00am to 12:30pm. Another thing to remember is that the post office is one of the few places in Japan that is guaranteed to have ATMs that take international cards.