Hokuriku’s bountiful craft culture makes it an excellent place to source authentic pottery, porcelain, lacquerware and other artisan works. The production of kutani ware, a 360-year-old type of porcelain indigenous to Kanazawa, still flourishes in the city; the best place to shop for it is Kaburaki Shoho Kutani Ware, in Kanazawa’s samurai district.

Hakukokan, a museum-cum-shop in Kanazawa, is an excellent place to learn about and purchase gold-leaf products, from dinner plates to stationery. Wajima is world-renowned for its lacquerware, distinguished by its ultra-smooth finish, the result of the painstaking repetition of polishing and lacquering, and its hand-carved decorations filled with gold leaf.

Every other shop in the city seems to carry the gorgeous wares. Kanayamachi Dori is the best reason to visit the city of Takaoka. The area’s latticed wood houses and winsome shops, such as Otera Kohachiro—a coffee shop and store stocked with select handcrafts from the region—are unmatched. Keijusha Washi Bunko in Yatsuo-machi, a small workshop that produces handmade paper, is another regional gem with a museum-quality collection of paper products.

Here is a selection of our picks for unique shopping in Hokuriku:

Kaburaki Shoho Kutani Ware
Hakuichi Gold Leaf
Imakutanigama
Takehito Nakajima lacquerware factory
Wajima Koubou Nagaya
Nussha Japan Ware showroom
Nousaku tin & copper factory
Keijusha Washi Bunko handmade paper