Kanazawa

Kanazawa sits at the edge of the Japanese Alps, largely spared the wartime bombing that reshaped so many Japanese cities, which is why its samurai and geisha districts survive almost intact. Wandering the narrow lanes of the Higashi Chaya district at dusk, lanterns lit, gives a real sense of Edo-period life. Kenrokuen Garden, long ranked among Japan’s finest, rewards a visit in any season, though it is the winter snow settling on its pines that locals speak of with most pride.