Kanazawa (金沢) is a city on the shore of the Sea of Japan, has a typical castle and a nice castle park. It is famous due to the Kenrokuen garden (兼六園), first laid out in 1676. The most unusual are the garden constructions where ropes are stretched from the special wooden poles to the lower branches of trees to protect them from breaking from the weight of the snow and, as the guide books say, "help them grow in a natural manner". Personally, I think that if the branches were meant to break under snow - let them, this will be more natural... Another notable point - please do not miss the shops opposite the Kanazawa castle: while most of them sell usual souvenirs, there is one that sells gold leaf items - I did puchase several, out of which the traditional scroll with painting of flowers made out of gold is my favourite.