Catching some Zs as we ride though the night lets us hit the ground running in Ishikawa Prefecture.

If you’re travelling within Japan, usually the first two questions you have to answer are whether you’re going to take a train or a plane to your destination, and then which hotel you’re going to spend the night at. But you know what? If you’re headed from Tokyo to Kanazawa, the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture famed for its beautiful sights, historical significance, and delicious food, it turns out you can still have a great trip without any plane/train tickets or hotel reservations, if you take advantage of Japan’s overnight bus network.

You might have heard that Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station is the busiest train station in the country, but the neighborhood’s Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal (also known as Busta Shinjuku) is Japan’s biggest bus terminal. From there, you can hop on the KB Liner overnight bus, which leaves Tokyo at 11:15 p.m. and gets you to Kanazawa at approximately 7:25 the next morning for the very budget-friendly price of just 4,900 yen (US$33).

If you’re imagining the unpleasant experience of riding a commuter bus through the night, you’ll be relieved to know that Japan’s overnight buses are a step up in comfort from the normal busses that run routes within a single city. All seats are reserved and recline, and the interior lights are dimmed and blackout curtains closed at the windows to help you sleep. The bus also stops at rest areas roughly every two hours, giving you a chance to use the bathroom or stretch your legs if you need to.

▼ Seating on the KB Liner consists of two seats on each side of the center aisle. Blankets aren’t provided, so you might want to make sure you’ve got an extra sweatshirt to wear if you like to feel toasty while you sleep, and earplugs might be handy if you want to block out road noise.

Overall, Japan’s overnight buses are easier to sleep on than airplanes, though not quite as comfy as a Shinkansen seat. The payoff, though, is that in addition to saving a night’s worth of hotel expenses, taking the overnight bus gets you where you’re going bright and early, with a full day to spend sightseeing.

Our Japanese-language reporter Masanuki Sunakoma, who made the overnight bus trip to Kanazawa, actually arrived at 7:20, a little earlier than scheduled thanks to especially light traffic along the way. The top sightseeing spots in the city are its garden and fish market, but before doing anything else Masanuki made sure to go take a look at Kanazawa Station’s Tsuzumimon or “Drum Gate,” an elegant archway built to evoke the construction of traditional Japanese drums used in Noh performances which has become a symbol of Kanazawa itself.

Kanazawa Station is also where Masanuki came across the first of the several rental cycle ports he’d see in the city.

Part of the Machi-Nori bike rental network, these electric-assist bikes can be returned to any Machi-Nori port, not just the one you first got yours at. Using the Machi-Nori website (found here) you can purchase a one-day pass for 1,430 yen, which gives you unlimited rides until 11:59 p.m. of the day on which you buy the pass.

▼ You unlock the bike by inputting a code that Machi-Nori sends to your phone.

Hopping on a bike, Masanuki made his first stop…

…Yume no Yu, a hot spring facility that’s about 20 minutes by bike from Kanazawa Station.

▼ Route from Kanazawa Station to Yume no Yu

This was actually Masanuki’s first time to travel by overnight bus, and so he was feeling a little stiff from the long ride. After a nice soak in the hot spring waters and a sit in the sauna, he was feeling refreshed, and at 950 yen, the price was very reasonable, and even included free rental towels and a disposable toothbrush and toothpaste.

Masanuki got to Yume no Yu at around 8 a.m., and an hour and a half later he was back on his bike, feeling completely refreshed and full of energy as he pedaled to his next destination, the Ishikawa Prefectural Capital Building, which is a 10-minute ride away.

This is one of the few tall buildings in Kanazawa, which means that if you head up to the observation lobby on the 19th floor, you can get some very nice 360-degree views of the area.

The observation lobby is free and open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (or until 7 p.m. January-March). While he was there, Masanuki also ran into Hyakuman-san, Ishikawa Prefecture’s official tourism mascot character, a daruma doll with a stately mustache.

Back on the road again, Masanuki was happy to find some well-marked bike lanes along his route to his next stop…

…Omicho Market!

▼ Ishikawa Prefectural Capital Building to Omicho Market

This is one of Kanazawa’s top tourism attractions, and the top attraction for foodies. This cluster of covered shopping lanes has been providing locals with fresh fish for more than 300 years, and the 170 or so merchants doing business there today are held to collectively be the best seafood market on the entire northern coastline of Japan’s main island of Honshu.

Omicho is especially famous for its kaisendon, rice bowls topped with a variety of sashimi slices. That fame, though, means that the market can get very crowded at midday, which brings us to another advantage of taking the overnight bus to Kanazawa: by arriving early in the morning, Masanuki was able to easily beat the lunch rush.

After looking over his options, he decided to give a restaurant called Iki Iki-tei a try, and he was glad he did.

Pictured above is the Iki Iki-tei-don Local, which uses only locally caught seafood, including Kanazawa’s prized amaebi (sweet shrimp). There’s also an Iki Iki-tei-don World which uses globally sourced fish such as Mediterranean-caught tuna, but at 2,200 yen the Local version is actually 1,100 yen cheaper, and if you’ve come to Kanazawa to eat sashimi, doesn’t it make the most sense to eat locally caught fish?

With Omicho Maket’s popularity with travelers, there’s a bit of premium pricing in effect, but it was still very much worth it. The rich flavors and superb texture of each and every morsel had Masanuki feeling giddy with each bite, like some sort of invigorating reverse-food coma.

Filled with fortifying sashimi, Masanuki opted to make the next leg of his journey on foot, taking a stroll on Hakuchoro, or the “Swan Road.”

▼ Omicho Market to Hakuchoro

Hakuchoro is a pedestrian promenade that runs along the northeastern side of Kanazawa Castle Park. Around 400 meters (1,312 feet) long, it’s a lovely stretch of green space with statuary to keep you company…

…including a statue of Maeda Toshiie, lord of the Maeda samurai clan who reigned from 1538 to 1599, back when the Ishikawa area was still known as Kaga Province.

Speaking of the Maeda clan, in the 1620s Toshiie’s successors began work on Kenrokuen, which is widely considered to be one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. In 1871 the garden was opened to the public, and it’s now Kanazawa’s most famous sightseeing spot that doesn’t serve sashimi.

▼ Hakuchoro to Kenrokuen

▼ Kenrokuen (兼六園) entrance

Once you get to the southern end of Hakuchoro, you’re only a short walk from the entrance to Kenrokuen, and that’s where we’ll pick things up again in part two of Masanuki’s overnight bus travels in Kanazawa!

Related: KB Liner website
Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!