This was a difficult article to title. What I have chosen could mean so many things about Japan. The meaning is twofold. It’s about geography and also about a side of the country that not many people see, or most certainly, feel.

I have an enduring love affair with Japan. I was born in Tokyo and my family upbringing included many Japanese sensibilities. The respect my Father had for the people and their ways were instilled in me for life. I have returned many times over the past ten years as my love for the country continues to deepen.

Watching Japan explode with tourism in recent years leaves me with a sombre mood and some worry. The Government target of 40 million visitors per year from 2020 is inevitable. But the thing about Japan, and the core reason so many want to go, is its singularity. There is not another country on earth like it. Not a single one. Its culture and tradition are completely unique. That everyone is on a craze for all things Japanese, and an overwhelming love of its food, has barely reached its zenith.

The wonders of the cities are a constant, the mind explodes with amazement from their incredible form and function. The big cities, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Fukuoka are an incredible balance between tradition and dazzling futurism.

It’s one city, however, that captured my heart when I first visited in 2015. On the coast of the Sea of Japan lies the capital of Ishikawa, the beautiful old city of Kanazawa. This is the city I dream of when I want the best of the country.

When I travel to Japan I want my days laced with cultural discoveries and the history that defines the nation and the way of life. What I saw in Kanazawa was beyond my wildest dreams. Being interested by life in the Edo period, one needs to look hard in modern day Japan to find its history, and even harder to actually be able to “feel” it.

In Kanazawa are two of the most beautiful historical districts that are so well preserved in time that you are literally transported back to that very era.

Higashi Chaya-gai, translating as “Eastern Teahouse District”, is a perfectly preserved historical area with original wooden lattice fronted buildings, established in 1820 as an entertainment area for rich merchants and nobility.

These Chaya (teahouses) were where customers were entertained by geisha with traditional music, drinking games and dancing. Nowadays, only a couple of Chaya still operate.

This district is so much more well preserved than the famous Gion geisha quarter of Kyoto. There, thousands of tourists, many behaving badly, run up to geisha and snap random photos of them, almost ruining what was once a serene and important part of the city. Higashi Chaya-gai in Kanazawa is a calm, quiet, well-regulated zone, with less visible attractions, and truly retains its traditions.

During the day, the walk through these streets is shared by other curious travelers, but at night, it’s a very different story.

One moonlit evening, I returned and walked these streets. As I turned to enter the main historic street, I was alone. There was not a soul in sight. The night was misty and cool. I walked slowly by the ancient wooden two level wooden houses and gazed up at the dim lighting emanating from the slats. I could hear faint music coming from within, the sound of strumming and the wistful voice of a female singer. A geisha’s song.

At that very moment I felt as if time had stood still. I certainly was not in the Japan of today. I felt at once alien from what I was witnessing and also as if I somehow belonged. A sense of calm is how I best describe my feeling. Not another thought entered my head at that moment. I was transfixed by this perfect moment. Mesmerized and completely spellbound.

I walked for another hour or so, still alone. The mood was so meditative I felt as if I were walking in slow motion.

The next morning upon waking in my ryokan, I felt completely alive from the unforgettable experience that previous evening. I certainly didn’t expect that another moment like it would lie ahead on this new day.

After growing up watching many movies about ancient samurai, and a fascination for their way of life, I had a strong desire to see how the military nobility lived in medieval Japan. Another unique drawcard in Kanazawa is the Nagumachi Samurai District. Here, alongside meandering canals and winding lanes lie many of their original houses.

This district rose at the base of the former Kanazawa Castle, where the samurai and their families used to reside. The area has a distinctive atmosphere with its stone paved streets, preserved samurai residences, private entrance gates and earthen walls. Some of the houses are able to be visited where you can get a true sense of the way of life of the nobles and their families.

I chose to walk these streets in the early morning. It was still and quiet, and as I crossed the canals and passed along the earthen walls it felt as if I was in an earlier time. I half expected to not re-enter the modern city that lay only streets away. Thoughts of my Western existence melted away. Again, for the second time in this beautiful city, I was completely in the moment.

There are not many places in the world where a feeling of an era long gone truly envelops you. These opportunities are diminishing as world tourism continues at a furious pace.

The beauty of Kanazawa is that it is not on the radars of too many tourists. The Shinkansen high-speed trains now running from Tokyo have changed this somewhat, but not yet to a great extent. As the only major Japanese city that was not bombed into oblivion in World War Two, Kanazawa retains so much original history, perfectly preserved and maintained, in a relatively small area.

The city has all you want from Japan. The lingering history, the culture, the flash of the modern, the wonderful innovation, food amongst the best in the country, and hospitality that befits the less developed city and the nation as a whole. For now, it remains unspoiled. There is no stopping the march of tourism and believe me, word of Kanazawa is spreading fast. As usual, my recommendation is enjoy it soon. And enjoy it, you will.