There’s a rhythm to Kanazawa that I could get used to.

Yesterday started with a 5K run along the Sai River in cool autumn air and a little rain. I passed a few fellow runners, a couple of cyclists, and two or three elderly people walking their dogs. Most smiled. Some waved.

Then we basically spent the whole day on foot. We walked across town to the geisha districts and drifted through two of the three historical teahouse neighborhoods. Narrow lanes, old wooden facades, little shops selling gold leaf sweets and matcha in various forms. I went for a coffee-flavored soft serve in a charcoal-black cone.

By late afternoon we’d looped all the way back on foot, legs a bit wrecked, and ended up near our hotel on the edge of the Katamachi entertainment district at Saint Louis / Jigger Bar. It’s one of those classic Japanese cocktail bars where the lighting is low, bottles are displayed like sculpture, and the bartenders are dressed in crisp black-and-white.

After a cold Suntory Premium draft beer each, we stepped back out into the street and into a steamy little ramen shop — the kind with fogged-up windows, a few booths, and counter seats that turn over fast.

Huge bowl, deep broth, noodles with that perfect chew, toppings piled so high you almost have to earn your way down to the soup. No polish, no posing. Just happiness you eat with a spoon and loud chopsticks.

Photo of me: Charlotte Raboff