Do-It-Yourself Gold Leafing in Kanazawa

At Hakukōkan, a tourist facility in Kanazawa, visitors can learn about the history of gold leaf production, watch it being made, and browse among various gold-leafed souvenirs. An eye-opening exhibit explains how a piece of gold just one-third the size of a ¥10 coin can be reduced to a thinness of 0.0001 mm so as to cover an area of over 1.6 square meters, the size of a tatami mat. One breathtaking room has walls entirely covered with gold leaf and a display of a full-sized set of traditional armor also covered in gold. Visitors can experience decorating souvenir items with gold leaf themselves. And in the spacious café they can treat themselves to ice cream cones topped with ultra-thin sheets of gold.

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