One of the first things you see as you exit Kanazawa Station is a giant brass sculpture of a teapot sunken drunkenly into a mound of grass or, depending on your interpretation, tilting to fill a cup of the refreshing green brew the city is noted for. That a municipal piece of art should be dedicated to tea culture (made by artist Kazumasa Saegusa) says something about the drink's place in the history and contemporary life of Kanazawa, the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture.