KANAZAWA STATION (ISHIKAWA PREFECTURE)

Architect's dream realized after 3 decades

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Yasushi Wada

By Katsuo Kokaji

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Many people, and not only the citizens of Kanazawa, were appalled when they saw the city's new "entrance" for the first time.

The East Square of Kanazawa Station, completed in March, is gorgeous and weird at the same time, covered with a huge glass dome and protected by a 14-meter-high wooden gate. The square completely changed the view around the JR station.

"I wanted to change the image of Kanazawa, which is dismal because of its wintery weather, into a bright one," said Tameo Kobori, 74, a professor emeritus of Kanazawa University who was in charge of designing the square.

Many traditional buildings remain in Kanazawa, which was spared of U.S. bombing in World War II. When he was making plans for the square, Kobori, who about 30 years ago set up a citizens group to study city planning, tried to renew the city while protecting the old. For him, the square project was the completion of 30 years of study.

Many houses in Kanazawa have a large roof, a fact that led to the idea of covering the square with a huge glass dome. It expresses Kanazawa tradition in the latest design, using aluminum alloy pipes and glass.

The gate was designed to resemble the string tied around a traditional hand drum. Under the gate is a passage connecting the west side of the station, which is being modernized, and the east side, where the atmosphere of the old castle town remains.

"The square has made the station unique and a new cultural treasure, while maintaining a sense of tradition," Kanazawa Mayor Tamotsu Yamade said with joy.

But some citizens are still not convinced.

"It looks as though they made it for people outside the town, not for locals," said Natsu Sasaki, a 35-year-old company employee. "I don't like it."

"At first I thought it was completely out of place," said Hiroyuki Honda, the 54-year-old owner of a used book shop in the city. But Honda, who is a Kanazawa native, changed his mind when he visited the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art that was completed in October 2004. The art museum, too, features a lot of glass.

"The domed ceiling and the gate are contemporary art, too," he said. "Imagine they were pieces at an art museum — I think they fit in."