A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering 1926–1945: the Kanazawa broadcasting station, kafē and talkies, the former Ishikawa Bank Hashiba branch, a Noh stage built of Alishan cypress from Taiwan, and the Toyama Denki Building, the 9th Division's moves from Shanghai and Manchuria to Taiwan, Komatsu's city charter and naval airfield, evacuation and building clearance in Kanazawa, the Toyama air raid of 2 August 1945, links with Taiwan, and the arrival of US troops in Kanazawa after the war.