Adventures in the Noto Penninsula. Chirihama Beach Drive

So apparently the rainy season has lasted a lot longer than it usually does so we had monsoon type rain throughout our 3 day weekend in the Noto Penninsula! Bloody typical, it’s got to be because I’m English.

FUK-U-MI (named after a bridge in Noto)- our little lilac delight

Didn’t put a dampner on our sprits too much though. We hit the road on Friday in our tiny but rather fetching lilac rental car which I think had a half litre engine or was battery run it struggled that much!

First stop, Chirihama Beach Drive, a 5 mile stretch of hard packed sand that you can drive along (and that includes tour buses. I’ll get to that later). The rain was getting worse.

Seeking refuge and hot tins of coffee in the tin shack, Chirihama beach

We pulled into a tin shack (literally) of a snack bar at the start of the driveway for a quick coffee. Now that was an experience, coffee in a tin was put in front of us. I explained we were after a “hotto coffee” so she bought back two SCOLDING HOT tins of coffee, unbelievable. I hope she didn’t whack it in the microwave.

The tin shack was fab though, right on the beach, old rugs scattered on the floor and knee high Japanese tables with families tucking into udon lunches watching their kids playing in the sea (in the rain). How can I describe it? Rugged cool.. ?

The rugged cool beach shack (corrugated roof and all), Chirihama beach

Back in the car. By this point the rain was getting heavier, so we decided to do a U turn & get back on the Noto Toll Road for fear of actually sinking us and our little lilac delight in the wet sand. When got to the junction though it was like a lake & only big beefy cars were getting through. After a heated discussion with mumma I decided sinking in sand with the tide coming in would make a far better story than breaking down on a highway so we decided to head back for Chirihama beach. To be honest, we shouldn’t have feared.

Fear not. You know you're safe driving on sand when a Japanese tourist bus coming the other way

Despite the peeing rain the beach drive was safe as houses, even a bus full of Japanese tourists came past which eased the fears. In true Japanese style it even had lay bys, 2 proper lanes, cafes and of course loos every 5 minutes along the way.

Adventures in the Noto Penninsula: Flatts by the Sea, near Suzu

Mum outside Flatts by the Sea bakery (next door to the B&B)

View from our room at Flatts by the Sea, it didn't stop bloody raining!

Flatts by the Sea is a bakery, cafe, restaurant and minshuku (B&B) all rolled into one. On arrival we were given a warm welcome and told dinner would be served at 6.30pm. Home from home or what? We sat and had OZZIE wine (bliss!) in their cute tatami mat restaurant. There were 2 other families staying too. It was all very friendly and cosy.

Me and mum at our table at Flatts by the Sea's tiny restaurant

Yoko, Ben’s wife gave us a fantastic lowdown of the dishes as she brought out each course, each one in some way containing local ingredients, from handpicked blueberry pie to her mothers 3 year old fermented fish (that was for breakfast) Funazushi? I can’t remember but it did taste so strong and stank.

Wonderfully presented sashimi dish at Flatts

Bless Mum. She was praying for a yogurt/fruit/juice breakfast but alas it was Japanese. A Japanese breakfast basically consists of everything mum doesn’t like to eat in the morning: miso soup (a clear soup with tofu and seaweed floating about), rice, fish, Japanese pickles and lashings of green tea to wash it all down with, yum yum.

The room we had at Flatts was a nice, average sized tatami mat room. Shared bathroom but I think all the carpets in there were new (newer than at Tadaya, haha) I’m not quite sure why I have a sudden interest in carpet.

After our yummy Japanese morning breakfast we headed across Noto to Wajima, the home of an infamous market. Important sidenote to anyone staying in a minshuku or ryokan (Japanese style hotel): Once you get up for breakfast your makeshift futon beds are put away by little fairies so when you get back stuffed and needing a lie down you can’t, your bed’s disappeared! More about Wajima in my next post


Oh almost forgot Flatts by the Sea bakery/cafe is definately worth a visit. Yummy cakes and fresh coffee in a Ozzie style surf cafe.

Flatts by the Sea surf style cafe

Yep mum holding the mascot wicker kangaroo in Flatts by the Sea cafe

Adventures in the Noto Penninsula: Ganmon Cliffs and Sosogi Coast

Me and mumma at Ganmon Cliffs

We left Tadaya spa in the morning and set off for the Ganmon Cliffs and the Sosogi coast. The weather had cleared, hurrah! We hopped on one of the sightseeing boats there, I think it was ￥1000 (about 6 quid) for a 20min trip with commentary. It left at 2 and was back in port by 2.20 on the bloody dot. That’s what I love about the Japanese, so punctual, no messing about!

Ganmon was very pretty, a huge cave mouth jutting out of the sea, which was a beautiful turquoise colour. I was tempted to jump in the water but that wouldn’t be very Japanese, far too crazy…! Aftger getting off the boat, I ordered 2 sea snails that I’d seen the locals cooking up on these mini BBQ grills.

Always game for trying the local delicacy. With the toothpick type instrument I was given I pulled out the inner entrails of the snail. Oh my god, I squealed! It was like a big purple slug and all curly at the end. YUK.

By this point I had attracted some attention from some other Japanese tourists (with my squeal) so then felt compelled to eat the darn things. Well needless to say they tasted foul, like salt water mostly and chewy. On return to Kanazawa my stomach was dodgy for days...

The Sosogi drive was very pretty too although I have to admit when we stopped the car at one point to get some photos we realised that the shore was littered with rubbish. Such a shame. The Japanese apparently blame the Koreans, say that they dump rubbish in the sea and it makes its way across to Japan. The Koreans say the same thing about the Japanese. Talk about absolving responsibilities!

Anyway, after a long drive we found our next port of call. Flatts by the sea. Run by an Australian Ben and his Japanese wife Yoko? Recommended by a girl I met Erika who lives nearby. I’ll write more about Flatts in my next post.

Adventures in Noto Penninsula: Wakura Onsen

View at Tadaya Spa, Wakura Onsen

An easy drive up to Wakura. Still raining so we decided to go to the Ryokan (Japanese style hotel) that we booked for one night, called Tadaya Ryokan. To anyone tempted by the beautiful web pictures of this place, take note! This isn’t really a luxurious place. Maybe I’ve been too spoilt elsewhere but for the money we paid for the one night, ￥38,100 (249 quid) for 2 people including breakfast and din and I was expecting a higher standard. OK SORRY moan over!!

Boiling meat in a nabe type pot

Tadaya’s saving grace is their food. Beautifully presented and they bring each of the 7 courses to your tatami mat room. Our waitress was so lovely (in fact all of the staff were friendly) and gave us a running commentary of each dish in Japglish (half English, half Japanese) I even understood some of what she was saying. Progress!

Seirin-ji temple, Wakura Onsen

We went for a walk into Wakura Onsen town. I had already read some comments about the town and yes it isn’t exactly picturesque, big concrete high rise hotels are the biz here. We did however find a beautiful temple Seirin-ji almost hidden amongst a bamboo grove forest. A climb up it’s 100 plus steps takes you to a beautiful viewpoint. It was definitely the nicest place in Wakura onsen town!

After dinner we went to the onsen (hot spring) which was only part of the ryokan that I think was new. It was quiet, clean and pretty big. We sat in the outside rock pool overlooking the ocean. It even stopped raining for a few hours.

Me in the nud in the onsen (hot spring) overlooking the sea at Wakura Onsen

Miracle masseurs in Kanazawa

The miracle masseur team at Temomin

If you're working as an ALT you'll probabaly be familiar with having to lug a sackful of books to and from school everyday resulting in permanent aching shoulders. Well this is me.... As well as my school books I also carry around a proper old school Japanese dictionary, my Minna no Nihongo textbook, homework, notebooks..the list goes on.

Well I found a fantastic massage parlour (they coin it "relaxtion space") the other day called Temomin. In fact I lie, I've been passing it for months at Kanazawa station but like other Japanese haven't mustered up the energy to dive in and give it a go. Well the other day I decided to give it a go, and I'd highly recommend it!

It's a crossed between sports massage and shiatsu. No fancy oils, no embarassing undressing and no worrying that your cellulite is being studied in microscopic detail. No, these guys (yes mostly men) work their magic with your clothes on (now that's a first..) I would recommend wearing leggings or loose trackky bums.

So far I've had the 20 min seated neck & shoulders and the 40 minute lower back, legs and feet and both were absolutely amazing. The bonus is that they offer different timed sessions starting from 10 mins up to 115 mins, so perfect if you have some spare time waiting for your train.

Temomin in Kanazawa prices as follows:

Time temomin (neck, shoulders, arms back)- 10 min, ¥1050, 20 min ¥2100, 30 min ¥3150

Body temomin (40 min particular areas)- 35 min ¥4200, 55 min ¥6300, 75 min ¥8400 and 115 min ¥12,600

Foot temomin (lower back, legs, feet, sole)- 40 min ¥4200

To find Temomin just follow the signs to the post office in Kanazawa station, you will see Temomin on your right hand side opposite the German bakery.