Kanazawa to Wajima - Ishikawa
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July 1, 2015 - Kanazawa to Wajima - Ishikawa
For my travels today, I first took the Shinkansen from Itoigawa to Kanazawa (little under an hour) and then drove from Kanazawa to the sleepy fishing village of Wajima on the rural Noto Peninsula (~120 kms). Thankfully, my mood was not as cloudy as today's weather which was miserable at times to say the least.
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As always, catching the shinkansen was easy. Unfortunately, driving out of Kanazawa was atrocious with wet weather and strangely some dangerous driving from people in front on me which I have found is a rarity in Japan. After a painful hour the traffic seemed to dissipate at the same rate as the density of the housing. Unfortunately, the landscape was as drab as the weather as I started to go up the west coast of the Noto Peninsula.
More detailed map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zp0MtAJdtIro.kxeafFLd0Sjg&usp=sharing
For today, I visited the following attractions in order:
(1) Kita Residence
(2) Keta Taisha Shrine
(3) Myojiji Temple
(4) Kongo Coast
(5) Sojiji Temple
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As mentioned earlier, the traffic was quite terrible and I was happy to visit my first location of the Kita Residence - an old samurai house which costs 500 yen to enter. There is some English translation and I'm happy to say that this was one of the better samurai houses that I have visited.
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As I started to draw closer to my second stop of Keta Taisha Shrine, I noticed that the towns were starting to become a little more sleepy - but it was nothing compared to what I was expecting (Noto is meant to be the quietest place on mainland Japan!). This shrine is quite a nice place and it was interesting that a shrine maiden explained how things worked when you entered the main shrine. As always - entrance is free to most shrines.
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Around 7 kilometers from the shrine is the pretty Myojiji temple, which costs 500 yen to enter. This is an odd thing to say - but I almost felt like I was in one of the smaller main temples in Kyoto.
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As you head along the Kongo coast - the landscape changes from being a little drab to absolutely breathtaking. The towns get smaller and the traffic thins out even more. There are quite a few outlooks and walks to visit along here. As it was bad weather mid week - the tourist boat was not working today.
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Around 30-40KM's from the Kongo coast is Sojiji temple which costs 400 yen to enter. As the grounds are going through extensive works, it was a little disappointing for me today. The town where the temple is set also seems to be quite pretty and has a couple of other things to do. Unfortunately - I did not have enough time to properly explore the town as I had to get back to my minshiku for the night.
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I don't normally say this - but the drive between the last temple and Wajima was some of the most prettiest scenery that I have seen in a long time. Unfortunately, I did not take and photos but I may be able to tomorrow.
For tomorrow, I will either hang around Wakura or drive the east coast of the peninsula. I'm not sure which one I will do yet.
Further information:
JG Noto Page (English): /e/e4250.html
Ishikawa Tourist Association (English): https://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/english/attraction/index.html
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