KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. -- As orderly creatures, Japanese generally have a fondness for numbers and happily assimilate the world in neat numerical packages. Of these, the triad has always beguiled. Japan has its Three Most Beautiful Landscapes, its Three Imperial Regalia, its Three Plants of Good Fortune and -- as every visitor cannot help but be aware of -- Kanazawa's Kenrokuen is declared one of Japan's Three Finest Gardens.

Traditional culture, you soon learn, is big in Kanazawa. I caught the first sign of this as I stepped off the train, where, instead of being greeted by the synthesizer-trill of a typical Japanese station, I could hear the plinkplonk of a koto over the speakers. As I walked around town, I could see many women wearing kimono as everyday attire. Even away from the tourist areas, I noticed a liquor shop that stocks almost only sake, and another store that sells only miso and soy sauce. In the early evening, I passed a couple of teenage girls who were unselfconsciously singing an old folk song together as they walked down the street.

Kanazawa is located just inland from the Sea of Japan in Ishikawa Prefecture, below the great hook of the Noto Peninsula. Winters here are harsh, and they have bred a people who are inured to the cold. I was there in November, glad of my leather jacket and scarf, and wishing I had brought along gloves, too. But I spotted many schoolgirls breezing by, wearing short skirts, the mandatory loose socks and, on top, just thin blouses and sweaters.