While the southern end of Noto is pretty well established, the further north you go the more sparse it gets. The constant is small towns, clusters of houses really, that hug the coast. More about them later. I found this map online that is pretty useful, and I'll refer back to it as I explain the pictures. We started from Kanazawa, worked our way up the left coast, and back down the right coast. Just a note, I highly suggest clicking on these pics and blowing them up as there are a lot of details that the small pictures don't do justice to.
This was our first stop, the Ganmon caves. Actually it seemed like one cave, but it was still pretty nice. We went down to the beach in the picture and walked around. The coast is total rock, with pockets of water that look nice for snorkeling, though not this time of year.
The next few pictures are from the area between the caves and a town called Wajima. This next picture was the random find of they day. At 450 meters (about 1350 feet), this is the longest bench IN THE WORLD!!! Exciting??
I pulled over to take some pictures in a small seaside town, and turning around in a marina parking lot spotted these fish out to dry, amongst a pile of rusty, fishing related stuff.
Granny don't need to car!! The houses all around Noto are all wood and very rustic looking, especially the older, rundown ones. Many of the towns were extremely quaint and beautiful, but also quite depressing. Japan is just starting to experience what is going to be a huge drop in population over the next 50 or so years. The population is aging, and the young folks aren't having babies like they used to. As a result, many of the towns we saw today are dying off. The young people leave, as there's nothing for them to do job-wise, aside from maintain the small family farm, and the bright lights of Tokyo offer more excitement. A lot of the businesses we saw were shut down, restaurants and such. We saw virtually no children today, granted it was during the day and they were in school, but the people we did see were old. Old like 70's and 80's. Doubt they have kids in high school at this point.
Moving up along the coast we rounded the corner and were swarmed by kites. Kites are the regional bird of prey in these parts, and while I often see one or two soaring above town, I've never seen anything like this. I think mating season must be getting under way as these birds were very vocal, and were grappling with each other quite a bit. There must have been at least 20 of them, obviously not all in this picture. It was a great chance to observe them up close, since they were only 15-20 feet off the ground. There about the same size as many of the hawks we see around the northeastern US.
This was a very picturesque small town, though very typical of what I described above. Nothing but old folks walking around and riding their bikes down the middle of the road. I got the sense that they weren't all that thrilled to see Chieko and I driving around their narrow neighborhood roads. I'd probably be the same way though if some goofy white guy with a squeaky timing belt was cruising around my peaceful neighborhood as well.
I believe this was between Wajima and the tip of Noto. It's a really cool terraced rice field. There isn't much in terms of perspective here, but it's a good couple hundred feet from where I am down to the beach. I wish it was a little further along in spring or summer, since I imagine this is quite beautiful when it's all green. I've seen some terrace farming in Japan but nothing as extensive as this.
This was a very picturesque small town, though very typical of what I described above. Nothing but old folks walking around and riding their bikes down the middle of the road. I got the sense that they weren't all that thrilled to see Chieko and I driving around their narrow neighborhood roads. I'd probably be the same way though if some goofy white guy with a squeaky timing belt was cruising around my peaceful neighborhood as well.
I believe this was between Wajima and the tip of Noto. It's a really cool terraced rice field. There isn't much in terms of perspective here, but it's a good couple hundred feet from where I am down to the beach. I wish it was a little further along in spring or summer, since I imagine this is quite beautiful when it's all green. I've seen some terrace farming in Japan but nothing as extensive as this.
Once we rounded the tip of Noto and started heading south again, we had some pretty spectacular views of the mountains on the mainland, across Toyama Bay. At first I thought they were clouds, but upon looking closer we realized they were snow capped mountains. Quite a unique site I think.
The sun was setting just as we were getting back onto the highway around Nanao, and while it's no sunset over the ocean, I still got a pretty nice shot. There are quite a few wind turbines on Noto, and I dare say they look pretty cool in the setting sun.
I took a lot more pictures than this, but I'm surprised blogger let me upload this many. I've been looking forward to seeing more of Noto since we explored it a little bit last fall, and today did not disappoint. I imagine it must be even more beautiful in the spring and summer, though probably more crowded. There are a lot of camping areas there, so that's something to aim for once the weather warms up a bit. Hope you enjoyed the pictures :-)
1 comment:
Very cool photo's. I like that one with the mountains. I am amazed at the topography of Japan. Mountains, a Northern California-like coast. Very cool.
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