I woke early this morning and explore the shrine across from the hotel. Took some pictures and then went back to the room to drop off of the camera and went to breakfast.
The hotel offers a very nice European-style breakfast in a restaurant with a lovely view of Kanazawa.
After breakfast we got on the bus to go to city hall. Arriving City Hall we had an orientation on the history and cultural industry of Kanazawa. We were also presented with gold leaf lacquer boxes and were given tea with the traditional Kanazawan dessert.
The city has an interesting history. It is particularly invested in the local crafts which include gold-leaf, dyeing of silk and various construction trades. Cleverly, the last mayor saw the economic opportunity provided by these local crafts and invested heavily in education in these areas. Thus, the schools and technical colleges train students in these arts. The students stay in the area and have created a thriving tourist industry.
We had lunch a very nice hotel. And then went to visit the Kanazawa Education Plaza Togashi. This building was another investment by the last mayor. It is designed as a center to meet the needs of the areas children. It provides counseling for parents. It provides a meeting place for parents to bring children and discuss parenting. are various classes offered here around parenting. And classes are also offered for children.
Our next stop was the exchange meeting for UNESCO schools in Kanazawa. Here teachers from our program presented some of the exchange work that they had already done. There was a lot of talking at this meeting and I was interested to note that some Japanese colleagues had difficulty staying awake after a long teaching day!
Our last stop of the day was the Kanazawa Izumino library. We met with the chief librarian who gave us an introductory talk about the history of the library which serves as a repository for United Nations documents. The library is in a new building and houses a very large collection. Other facilities in the library include booths in which clients may watch movies which are available on loan.
Off to dinner at restaurant Nofudo, where we were served an excellent buffet meal.
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