I wanted something in what in Japan is considered to be Ura Nihon (literally Japan's back side, referring to it's Sea of Japan coast) and also partially inaka (basically countryside). Both terms have also some negative connotations to them, bu there's some feelings and atmosphere that are specific to these areas. That and there's the fact that outside Japan people aren't exposed to this area, so it has some kind of novelty. (There's also some personal reasons, but )JonesI Why did you choose Kanazawa as the setting/location? It's lovely but certainly not a well known place.
There's cultural differences between the red part (Ura Nihon) and green part (Omote Nihon).