Kanazawa Trip, Episode 4: Phonographs, Literature and Art

The Kanazawa Phonograph Museum consists of three floors showcasing historically significant phonographic items, such as the first phonograph ever made, the first one made in Japan, in addition to old record that could be listened on a table located on the third floor. I have to say that the gentleman working on the third floor was the most active guider in the museums we visited. He was very eager to show us around and explain what we were seeing. Most of the items were accompanied by a QR code that would lead to an English explanation of the item showed. Here we had the chance to listened to the first ever recorded audio message.

Knowing my love for literature, I was probably the most excited visitor of the Kanazawa Literary Hall. It also consisted of three floors. The first one hosted a coffee house type of environment, with a number of tables laying around, for artist to sit in groups and discuss their most recent works. From there, we went up to the third floor. To my surprise, a literature discussion was already taking place, with an older gentleman talking from the front of the room and a set of about 20 people listening, commenting, asking questions. Y. told me they were discussing literary writing techniques. We walked past them to the adjacent room. The pictures and works of a couple of dozens of Japanese writers were shown, behind class, and I took notes of their names, wanting to check them out later. To my pleasurable surprise, most of them were women and I was glad that the Japanese literary scene seemed to have provided equal space for writers, regardless of gender. The second floor was more music themed, full with CDs and collectable items. Taking pictures on this floor was not allowed. In a corner next to the elevator, there was a notebook for writing down the impressions upon visiting the museum and I took my chance to write a page full expressing my appreciating for the existence of a place like this, that cherished literature. With that, we headed out to our next destination: 21st Century Museum of Modern Art. Unfortunately, under heavy rain, we took the wrong bus direction and ended up further from the museum than when we start. We still made it there, somehow.

The museum, with its beautiful modern architecture consisting of a circular based structure with many entrances, showcasing contemporary art, was a bit out of theme with the rest of the places we visited. I have been to enough museums of modern art to say that I don’t really share the same enthusiasm as many other people (cough, snobs, cough) whom I know off. So, I wasn’t particularly keen to see the paid exhibits, but the museum has a permanent exhibition called “Swimming Pool” (by the Argentine conceptual artist, Leandro Erlich), a pool where people appear to be underwater, the photos of which looked quite delightful. However, it was already fully booked by the time we arrived there (around 6:30 pm), so whoever wants to use this cool feature, should make sure to get by there sooner during the day. Nevertheless, we enjoyed exploring the structure of the museum, with colorful walls, rooms designed to let rain drip in and other interesting characteristics. Afterwards, we found ourselves under pouring rain at the bus stop located three minutes from the museum. We had to wait a good 10 minutes before the bus came, but fortunately we found seats. Y. sneaked some snacks out of her purse and in (not so) secretly manner, we enjoyed them. The bus became full in just a couple of stops and it couldn’t receive more passengers, so I was extra appreciative of the comfortable seats.

We went to a sushi restaurant located near Kanazawa station, where we enjoyed a wonderful meal including the famous Kanazawa white shrimp. I have to say that the Japanese government had done a remarkable job supporting the tourism, by providing a package including the shinkansen, the hotel and some food coupons at a discounted rate. We used the food coupons here for a summed discount of 6000 yen. With a full stomach, we walked slowly towards our hotels, bringing a day of many outdoors adventures to an end./*54745756836*/