Japan's kimono, the traditional, colourful, formal wraparound garment, is in danger of extinction.

Young Japanese men and women are abandoning the centuries-old customary dress and would rather be seen in jeans and back-to-front baseball caps.

Not surprising, really, when a silk kimono (it means 'clothing') could cost upwards of 100,000 yen (about $A1,200).

In modern Japan you are now likely to see formal kimonos only at tea ceremonies, at Coming-of-Age Ceremonies for 20-year-olds and at weddings.

Or, if you are particularly lucky, in the evening you might see a geisha wearing a kimono heading to work in a teahouse.

One kimono maker, Miyuki Ukita, and her guild of kimono makers in the central northern city of Kanazawa, however, are determined to bring the kimono back.

They are out promoting the wearing of kimonos, offering to exchange old kimonos for new - giving the silk cloth for free and charging only for the making of the voluminous garment.

Kimono makers are not alone in trying to hang on to the past. The ranks of Japanese craftspeople who carry on traditional arts and crafts are thinning.

The 420-year-old city of Kanazawa is taking a lead, determined to arrest the trend and maintain its centuries-old arts and crafts heritage.

This year it was named a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art - Japan's only city given that accolade and one of only 19 worldwide. The city was ruled for centuries by the powerful Maeda family who used their wealth to encourage culture and education.

As a result, the city produced handicrafts such as gold leaf production and silk dyeing and developed cultural activities such as the tea ceremony and traditional Noh theatre, as well as Kaga cuisine and the manufacture of traditional sweets.

Kanazawa tourism's assistant director Katsuyuki Yamada says the city hopes to encourage young people to again take up these traditional arts and crafts and will run schools for them.

Visitors will reap the benefits, too. Yamada plans to have day trips to craft centres around the city. So, if you want to immerse yourself in Japanese arts and crafts you should head for this castle city in the centre of Japan on the northern edge of the Japan Alps, a four-hour train ride from Tokyo.

High on the list of Kanazawa crafts is the 17th century art of Kaga-yuzen silk dyeing. We visit a showroom where we watch Kozo Morita hand paint silk fabric for a kimono.

It will take him three months to finish and the garment will cost 400,000 Yen (about $A4,800). When finished the painting will form one continuous scene from one sleeve to the other.

He shows me how to paint the chrysanthemum pattern he is using and I clumsily follow his example. He has, however, had 30 years to perfect his technique. Kanazawa produces 99 per cent of Japan's gold leaf.

We visit the Hakuza workshop where artists are carefully handling leaves just 0.2 microns thick. (A nugget of gold the size of an Australian 10 cent piece is rolled out to the size of two tatami mats - each 90cms by 180cms.)

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The central northern city of Kanazawa produces 99 percent of Japan's gold leaf. (AAP)

It is used for decorating lacquerwork, woven cloth, pottery and Kanazawa's Buddhist altars. (Make sure you make a comfort stop at the shop's loo, the walls of which are covered in sheets of gold leaf. True.)

The city also wants to become known for its music. In 2009, the city for the first time hosted two major music festivals which attracted international artists, which it hopes will become annual events.

In the Japanese Spring the city held a four-day Mozart festival and in the Autumn, a four-day jazz festival.

Kanazawa's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is itself a piece of art. It looks like a UFO and is entirely surrounded by glass walls. Many exhibits can be touched, ridden, worn or entered.

Towering over the city is Kanazawa Castle, or what remains of it.

Destroyed and rebuilt a number of times over 500 years, it is currently undergoing renovation. Its grounds are a perfect venue for outdoor concerts.

Japan is noted for its formal gardens and nearby is the fabulous 11.4ha Kenrokuen Garden, one of the best three in Japan. Known as the Garden of the Six Sublimes it is a wonder of spaciousness, seclusion, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water and broad views - the essential attributes of a perfect garden.

You'll need at least a couple of hours to do justice to this must-see garden which features various ponds, streams, waterfalls, bridges, and teahouses. In November, before winter snows, gardeners string the branches of pine trees with rope, to look like maypoles, so they can withstand the weight of snow.

An immortal hermit is said to live on an island in the centre of the largest pond. It symbolises longevity and eternal prosperity.

Kanazawa's three geisha districts - Higashi, Nishi and Kazuemachi - are listed as National Important Cultural Assets.

Walk these districts among the old wooden houses to get a feel for an older, more distant Japan.

In Higashi you can visit the Kaikaro and Shima teahouses where geishas, Japan's corps of cultured entertainers skilled in traditional music, dancing and good conversation, still work.

For another glimpse into Japan's past, visit the Nagamachi houses of the samurai, the warrior class of an ancient Japan. The former homes of the Nomura family and the Takada family are open for inspection.

Later we stroll the Ohmi-cho food market where more than 170 food shops fill the air with a tantalising range of aromas - from seafoods to spices.

Best to join a tour with an English-speaking guide. Outside the major cities, Japan is not an easy place for the non-Japanese speaking visitor. Although signs these days usually have an English translation, few Japanese speak enough English to make travel straightforward.

 

If you go:

From Tokyo, JAL and ANA have six flights daily to Komatsu airport from where an airport express bus takes you on a 40-minute trip to Kanazawa.

Japan Railways has 23 trains a day from Tokyo to Kanazawa, via Echigo Yuzawa. The train trip takes about four hours. More information: www.kanazawa-tourism.com

* The writer was a guest of the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

 

AAP