We've made many trips into the beautiful, rural peninsula that composes the northern half of our prefecture. But, our recent trip with our friends Laura and Carson during Golden Week (a slew of Japanese national holidays in early May) was definitely the best. We set off for the city of Nanao first to witness their legendary Seihaku Festival, wherein enormous parade floats the size of buildings are pulled and maneuvered through the streets by fleets of people.
Next we drove all the way to the tip of the peninsula and stayed in an epic guest house where we had a 100-tatami mat main room (about 1,770 square feet!) and several other stories with rooms, hallways, stairs, a stage, and lounges all to ourselves. On the first floor, we even had free access to a public bath. The guest house was a stone's throw away from Mistukejima, a Noto island landmark.
That night, we dined at the famous Nihonkai Club restaurant/brewery, something we'd been meaning to do for years. Founded by a guy from the Czech Republic, the Nihonkai (or "Sea of Japan") Club brews award-winning beers of all colors and flavors. I particularly enjoyed their Imperial Stout. In a country where virtually all the major beers taste the exact same, it was a breath of fresh air (or a gulp of fresh brew?) to have some fresh-made variety.
Upon waking, we set out to have a cup of coffee at Nizami Coffee, a favorite coffee shop that was the subject of a recent Japanese movie. This enormously popular roaster/seller draws a huge crowd despite it's extremely rural location (there are no trains that run that far up into the peninsula, and the bus ride from Kanazawa takes about 4 hours).
Next we took a long, leisurely drive along the coast of the peninsula, stopping off to see such points of interest as Japan's oldest lighthouse, a rock in the shape of Godzilla, A crazy-expensive Japanese inn that's lit completely with kerosene lanterns, a town celebrating Boy's Day with hundreds of carp-shaped banners, AND Senmaida, or "1000 Rice Fields."
The Noto Peninsula is something I'll never forget, and something I already miss about Ishikawa.
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| Jorden and I with one of the huge Seihaku Festival floats in the background. They're four stories tall! |
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| The main room (1,770 square feet) of the guest house we stayed in... and we had it all to ourselves! |
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| Me at Mitsukejima, a 5-minute walk from our guest house. |
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| Jorde, me, Laura, and Carson at Rokkasaki Lighthouse, Japan's oldest. |
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| Jorden and Laura waiting for our food at the Nihonkai Club restaurant/brewery. |
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| The adventurers at Senmaida, or "!,000 rice fields." |
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| Jorden enjoying the view of the Boy's Day decorations. The carp-shaped banners signify strength and vitality. |
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