The City That Was Spared

Kanazawa is a city between the sea and the mountains. A river runs on each side of the old centre. Polly flew over grey roofs and small curved streets. Then she sat on a bridge.

Most old Japanese cities burned in the war. Bombs fell in nineteen forty-four and nineteen forty-five. But Kanazawa had no war factories. The planes never came. So the old city here is real, not a copy.

The streets here are strange. They bend and turn back. The old lords made them like this. An enemy army would get lost inside the city.

In the middle was a low hill. It had pale roofs and long stone walls. A famous garden was next to it. Polly flew there.