Kanazawa Station: The Hospitality Dome and Drum Gate

Kanazawa Station is the terminus of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, a bullet-train line connecting Tokyo and the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture in two and a half hours. It has been cited by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the world’s most beautiful train stations.

As part of the work to improve the station’s environs in advance of the line’s opening in 2015, a “Hospitality Dome” (Motenashi Dōmu) was built to cover the area outside the east gate. Consisting of 3,019 panes of glass supported by a frame of aluminum, the dome extends hospitality (motenashi) to visitors by providing a great umbrella to shelter them from Kanazawa’s frequent rain and heavy winter snow as they emerge from the station.

Just outside this dome is the Drum Gate (Tsuzumi-mon), a distinctive structure with a large curved roof supported by two massive pillars made of slanted beams of wood. The shape of these pillars evokes the drums used in the Nō theater performances that are part of the region’s tradition.

(Originally published in Japanese. Created in cooperation with Kanazawa Cable Television.)