Nagamachi and Teramachi Travel Video Guide

Nagamachi and Teramachi Travel Itinerary

• Maps and flag of Japan
• Nagamachi and Teramachi travel photos
• Nagamachi and Teramachi travel forum
• Flights to Nagamachi and Teramachi
• Hotels in Nagamachi and Teramachi
• Hostels in Nagamachi and Teramachi
• Buy the guide book!

Kanazawa escaped bombing during World War II and so has been able to preserve some of its traditional inner-city areas. Directly behind Korinbo, the Nagamachi quarter has a few twisting cobbled streets of samurai houses, protected by thick yellow and grey earthen walls, topped with ceramic tiles. It's an evocative area to wander around, although the graffiti scratched into the walls is somewhat distracting. Inside one of the old wooden houses is the kaga-yuzen (silk-dyeing) workshop Saihitsu-an (daily except Thurs 9-11.45am & 1-4.30pm; Y500), where a short lecture and demonstration in Japanese is given on this painstaking, highly detailed process of dyeing silk for kimono, and then you can wander around the house and see some of the artists at work behind a glass screen.

A ten-minute walk south of Nagamachi flows the Sai-gawa, on the other side of which is Teramachi (Temple Town), an area of narrow streets and several temples. Religious buildings were often grouped together at the entrance to a city in an attempt to deter enemies, a defensive role that is clearly apparent at the unique Myoryu-ji , also known as Ninja-dera (daily: March-Nov 9am-4.30pm; Jan, Feb & Dec 9am-5.30pm; Y700), five

minutes' walk south of the river. The temple, completed in 1643 and belonging to the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, is associated with the Ninja assassins because of its many secret passages, trick doors and concealed chambers, including a lookout tower that once commanded a sweeping view of the surrounding mountains and coast. To see around the temple you must reserve a place on one of several daily tours (call 0762/41-2877), conducted in Japanese but pretty self-explanatory.

Your Tips For Nagamachi and Teramachi

• Shikoku Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  It has beautiful scenery, a laid-back atmosphere, friendly people and several notable sights, yet SHIKOKU , Japan's fourth main island, is usually at the bottom of most visitors' itineraries - if it appears at all. - Japan
  

• Okinawa Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  The prefecture of Okinawa comprises more than one hundred islands, stretching over 700km of ocean from Kyushu southwest to Yonaguni-jima, almost within sight of Taiwan. - Japan
  

• Kyushu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Lying off the south end of Honshu, Japan's third largest island, KYUSHU , is surrounded by a spray of smaller islands which trail off in a long arc across the East China Sea. - Japan
  

• Kansai Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  In a country so devoid of flat land, the great rice-growing plains of KANSAI , the district around Osaka and Kyoto, are imbued with an almost mystical significance. - Japan
  

• Central Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Located roughly midway along the Japanese archipelago, the seven prefectures of CENTRAL HONSHU , known as Chubu , offer a wide choice of terrain and travel possibilities. - Japan
  

• Around Tokyo Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Tokyo is hemmed into its coastal location on the Kanto plain by a ring of mountains and volcanoes, featuring temples, parks and a couple of bustling towns and cities. - Japan
  

• Hokkaido Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Many Japanese see HOKKAIDO as an idyllic, unspoiled frontier - the perfect place to escape from industrialized Japan and get back in touch with nature. - Japan
  

• Tokyo Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO - the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean - is one of the world's most perplexing cities. - Japan
  

• Northern Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  When the famous poet Matsuo Basho set out on his travels along the "narrow road to the deep north" in 1689, he commented, somewhat despondently, "I might as well be going to the ends of the earth. - Japan
  

• Western Honshu Japan Travel Videos
  Japan Travel Itinerary
  Also known as Chugoku , meaning "middle country", Western Honshu used to be at the centre of the Japanese nation, lying between the country's earliest settlements in Kyushu and the imperial city of Kyoto. - Japan