You can find other traditional crafts such as yuzen silk, and washi paper, dotted around different parts of the station and even on the shinkansen platforms the tops of the pillars are decorated with gold leaf. The period of Maeda rule is seen as Kanazawa’s golden age, but this came to an end in the 19th century when Japan opened its borders to the world. A period of dramatic social and political change followed, in which the Maeda family lost power and Kanazawa lost its regional influence. In the 1870s while other major cities underwent rapid industrialization, and were connected by an ever expanding network of railways, Kanazawa fell behind. In fact the railway didn’t arrive in Kanazawa until the end of the century.
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