A pre-trip note for Kanazawa, Toyama, and Komatsu covering 1945–1989: US occupation and military government, the Shōwa emperor's tour of Hokuriku, repatriates and links with Taiwan, Kanazawa University inside the castle and the Kanazawa College of Art, the Uchinada struggle, Komatsu Air Base and Toyama Airport, Kanazawa port and the Hokuriku Expressway, Kurobe Dam and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, YKK and Komatsu, the itai-itai disease lawsuit, and manga, literature, film, and television from Hokuriku Broadcasting, Fujiko Fujio, Itsuki Hiroyuki, and Zero Focus.