AREA

Photo: Terada Masahiro

Iwase is located just 15 minutes north of Toyama Station by car. In recent years, Masuda Sake Brewery has spearheaded efforts to revitalize the area through gastronomy and craft, enriching the district while preserving the aesthetic sensibility of Iwase’s beautiful historic cityscape with former buildings of shipping agencies, which once flourished as a port of call on the Kitamaebune sea route. The Iwase Area has become home to Micheline-starred restaurants as well as studios and galleries of craftspeople active both in Japan and internationally. Visitors can discover the newly revitalized landscape rooted in tradition with a contemporary aesthetic twist.

Photo: Terada Masahiro

Higashiyama is home to the Higashi Chaya teahouse district, one of Kanazawa’s most popular destinations. In addition to teahouse-style machiya buildings from the late Edo period to the Meiji era, it is said that countless artisan workshops once lined the back alleys of the district’s atmospheric streets. Today, designated as a National Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, the hidden cafes and galleries scattered among the district’s historical neighborhoods offer glimpses of a lifestyle still intimately tied to craft.