While I’m working out some complex thoughts about Tsunayoshi, check out the Japan Association of Travel Agents‘ promotional video with World Order as they travel to my home prefecture of Ishikawa!
Archive for the ‘Ishikawa’ Category
JATA Comes to Ishikawa
Posted in Ishikawa, Kanazawa, Noto, Travel, tagged bullet train, Hokuriku line, Ishikawa, JATA, tourism, 新幹線 on 2014/04/03| Leave a Comment »
Kazuemachi in the Snow
Posted in Kanazawa, Photography, tagged chayagai, 茶屋町, Kanazawa, Kazuemachi, photography, snow, winter, 冬景色, 主計町 on 2014/01/10| Leave a Comment »
Cute Break: Wakutama-kun, the Onsen Egg
Posted in Ishikawa, Noto, Visual Culture, tagged わくたまくん, Ishikawa, japan, mascot, onsen, Wakura Onsen, wakutama-kun, 和倉温泉 on 2013/12/18| 1 Comment »
Pre-holiday rush and year-end sexism burnout got you down? Let’s bring in some warm fuzzy feelings with an adorable mascot. We’ve got to take a cute break before continuing on our fun-ruining rampage through pop culture, right? All sarcasm aside, let me introduce you to my favorite Ishikawa mascot, Wakutama-kun, the soft-boiled onsen egg (温泉卵) of Wakura Onsen (和倉温泉).

Image from Wakura Onsen‘s website.
Noto: Notojima Glass Art Museum
Posted in Art, Art, Noto, Photography, Rural Life, Travel, tagged art, contemporary art, 能登島, 能登島ガラス美術館, glass, glass art, Ishikawa, modern art, Nanao, Notojima, Travel on 2013/07/28| 2 Comments »
Notojima‘s other main attraction is the glass art museum, which features international glass ranging from the practical to the abstract.
The design of the museum itself is sleek, playful, and modern.
Noto: Notojima Aquarium
Posted in Expat Living, Ishikawa, Noto, Photography, Rural Life, Sight-seeing, tagged japan, jellyfish, manta ray, Nanao, Noto, Notojima, photography, Travel on 2013/07/10| 1 Comment »
On the second day of our roadtrip, we headed to Notojima, a small island in Nanao Bay, halfway between Anamizu and Nanao, which is connected to the mainland by two bridges. It’s one of my favorite places in Ishikawa: the annual Notojima Te-Matsuri Craft Fair in October is always a treat, and it’s hard not to fall in love with Notojima’s scenic charms.
One of Notojima’s main attractions is the Notojima Aquarium (能登島水族館). Tickets are available at conbini nearby (for a discount) or at the door.
Noto: Four Seasons of Mitsukejima
Posted in Noto, tagged Battleship Rock, 見附島, japan, Mitsukejima, Noto, Okunoto, photography, Suzu, Travel on 2013/06/20| 5 Comments »
From Senmaida, we took the 249 toward Suzu, the northernmost town in the Noto Peninsula. Suzu’s main landmark is Mitsukejima (見附島), also known as “Battleship Rock.” It was cloudy and later in the day when we arrived, so I wanted to share some other photos I’ve taken over the years.
Winter 2010
The winters in the Noto are cold and snowy, and nowhere so much as Suzu. The winter sea is harsh, but it makes Mitsukejima and all the shores seem so dramatic, even melancholy.
Noto: Senmaida; or, In Which There is Parseltongue
Posted in Noto, Photography, Rural Life, tagged 能登, Harry Potter, Ishikawa, japan, Noto, Okunoto, parseltongue, photography, road trip, Senmaida, snake, Travel, Wajima, 千枚田, 奥能登 on 2013/06/05| 2 Comments »
I’m very much a city person, but I do like to escape to the country on occasion, and the Okunoto, the northernmost part of Ishikawa’s Noto Peninsula (能登半島) is just the place to get away for a weekend. As a victory lap of Ishikawa, some of my friends and I drove around the 249 during the last weekend in May.
The 249 is a long drive, taking roughly 2 hours (nonstop) from Anamizu to Wajima to Suzu to Noto and back to Anamizu. Two or three day-long trips are really needed to cover it all, but we tried to hit some of my favorite spots, spending one day exploring the Okunoto and the second in the Notojima area near Nanao. RocketNews24 had a good short guide to the Noto, but I’d like to show off the area in photos, starting with Senmaida (千枚田), the “Thousand Rice Fields.”
Discover a different side of Japan in the Noto Peninsula
Posted in Ishikawa, Noto, Reblog, tagged Ishikawa, japan, Noto, reblog, RocketNews24, Travel on 2013/05/29| 2 Comments »
I’m planning to do some posts on the Noto after my recent trip there, so I was pleased to see that RocketNews24 did one as well! Enjoy!
Seihakusai Festival
Posted in Festivals, Ishikawa, Photography, Rural Life, tagged dekayama, festival, float, Ishikawa, japan, matsuri, May, Nanao, photography, Seihakusai, spring on 2013/05/13| 1 Comment »
Held in Nanao, Ishikawa pref., every May, the Seihakusai Festival (青柏祭) features three enormous floats that are said to ward off evil monkeys. (There’s lots of good information in English on Experience Kanazawa.) The Noto region of Ishikawa is famous for its summer festivals, but they’re not just kiriko (huge lantern) festivals.
Behold the dekayama:
The Pavilion of Natadera
Posted in Ishikawa, Photography, tagged Buddhism, Buddhist temple, Ishikawa, japan, Natadera, photography, temple, Travel on 2013/05/01| Leave a Comment »
I’ve mentioned the precipitation of Ishikawa quite a few times on my photo posts. Even though it makes biking unpleasant and battling household mold a challenge in older homes, the constant rain in Ishikawa does make for a lush landscape.