NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO360)

The House of the Samurai was the highlight of Kanazawa but the “rest” of Kanazawa is beautiful too. And far less crowded.

We started our vacation in Osaka and Kyoto. In both cities we stayed at hotels next to the busiest train station which means that we saw more people within a couple of days that we will see in an entire year at home. So before we proceeded to Tokyo we had to visit a quieter place to recharge. Kanazawa isn’t exactly a small town with almost 500.000 citizens but compared to Osaka or Tokyo it is.

NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO900)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO900)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO400)

We walked back to the city center to get coffee and cake and to warm up a little before we continue our sightseeing. Whenever I walked from one location to the other I used to shoot only with the Nikon Z 26/2.8. This lens is excellent and versatile and best of all it is super small and light so it doesn’t stick out a lot of the camera. My camera, the Nikon Z8, was still rather big and heavy but with the 26/2.8 it is as small as it gets.

On my next trip I will use my Nikon Zf instead which will give a much smaller and lighter setup. I look forward to that! A camera plus lens that is practically the same size and weight of my beloved Fuji X-Pro2/XF14/2.8R combo. Only that it has a full frame sensor and IBIS.

NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO200)

We finally reached the coffee house for a short break before we will visit one of the most famous gardens all over Japan. Kanazawa doesn’t see nearly as much tourists as the big three (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) but it is easy to see that tourism will rise. It is beautiful, easy to reach and offers a lot of attractions. And last but not least CNN included it in there places to visit list for 2026.

We are very glad that we visited the place before.

NIKON Z 8 (26mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2200)