Hitting Uchinada Beach, nr Kanazawa

Mum and I decided to take a break from the sweaty touring and spend a day at Uchinada beach, an easy 15/20 min direct train ride from Kanazawa station. Think Laguna Beach hits the Sea of Japan coast but maybe not quite as pretty. For what it lacks in prettiness it makes up for in atmosphere thats for sure.

Japanese girls in itsy bitsy frilly bikinis with zero cellulite and no bums flirting with the boys sporting the groomed J-pop looking hairdos (big bufonts) hanging at the skate park (on the beach) or, if supercool, hanging off their jet skis.

There's a few bars/snack huts at Uchinada and when I say hut I do literally mean large wooden huts with corregated roofs, not great to look at but totally functional! During the summer, Kanazawa Apres shuts its city dwelling and opens a cool bar and restaurant. There's another one called Peace Bar and another whose name I forgot.

Terrible pic of me sat outside Apres on Uchinada beach, smoothie in hand

They all pump out R&B and pop tunes all day, one even with a hook up to the speakers attached to the lifeguard tower on the beach so leave the ipod at home! Mum adjusted surprisingly well...think she just wanted to lie down and do nothing.

Uchinada beach has some awesome hammocks and wide sunloungers (good for wide people like me!) which I think belong to Apres but since the bars are all lined up together I'm not 100%.

Anyway we spent the day lazying about on our loungers sweating it out, drinking the odd cocktail or two from Apres and sampling the very warm sea (although the Japanese girls were screaming "it's cold") Come to England my lovelies then I'll give you cold!

Dusk on Uchinada beach

Meeting the marines, Iwakuni

F-18 Fighter Jets at Iwakuni

How often in your life do you get chance to visit a US marine base?

Well having met Chrystal in Tokyo for our Interac training I was soooo excited when she invited me down to stay with her and her friend Leah in Iwakuni, 20 mins south of Hiroshima. Leah is a US marine and Chrystal works at the recreation centre “on base”.

The big wig at Iwakuni

Let me just put “the base” in perspective. When Leah said she hadn’t left base for 3 months I thought bloody eck, I’d be going mad by now. I didn’t know at this point that base is 4/5 miles long by so many miles wide. Yes huge. They have their own golf course, bowling alley, cinema, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Bath & Home depot, massive shopping mall, supermarkets, a church, the lot. No wonder she hasn’t left base. They use US dollars, not yen. You’d actually forget you were ever in Japan living on base, which I’m not sure is a great thing…!? Even the bloody steaks are imported! Unbelievable.

Me and the girls geting our imported food fix at the Marine Mart, Iwakuni


Anyway, it was a really refreshing change, I felt as though I’d flown to the US for a weekend holiday. WOW, to eat an oversized steak and cajun prawns on an supersized BBQ and drink oversized margaritas and Bud watching the beautiful sunset . Who can complain?

Me with the supersize BBQ

Waiting for din dins

I must admit I did get a bit overexcited too just seeing marines everywhere. I might have even let out a proper girly squeal at one point. (I was in the car so saved embarrassment)

Officers walking about Iwakuni

There really is something about a man in uniform. I kept to looking only, no touching. Beefy men with crew cuts aren’t my type. However I did insist on a piccie with Leah’s subordinates (they were petrified of her & obeyed her order when she said her English friend wanted a pic) so voila.

Me with some of Leah's reportees

In the evening we set off for the Officers Club (OC) and I got talking to a colonel who flew those huge fighter jets (known as F18’s) All very exciting except for when I was trying to describe where Kanazawa was he drew a crappy map and asked me if it was north of KIYOTEEE. I was like Kiyoteee? Ahh....after a few seconds I realised he meant “Kyoto”. Oh dear and isn’t this from someone who flies jets over Japan and studies flight maps? I couldn’t help correcting him. He said “Ahh Kyoto, yes that’s right” and pegged it sharpish.

Other than us all being propositioned by some seedy Filipino hookers in a bar in Iwakuni, no other news to report from my US Marines weekend. Great fun.

Shirakawago: Gasso houses, Bear skin rugs (with claws) and Onsen.

Shirakawa-go villages are famous for their traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses, some of which are more than 250 years old. Gassho-zukuri means "constructed like hands in prayer", as the farmhouses' steep thatched roofs resemble the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in prayer.

This style is supposed to be designed to reduce the large amounts of snow that fall in the region during the winter. There are several dozen of the farmhouses in the village we went to, Ogimachi. It was such a beautiful day and we instantly fell in love with the place. It had such a cosy atmosphere, water mills, beautiful flowers everywhere and that smell of hot alpine wood that made the whole place smell like a sauna. Heaven & so relaxing!

We took a walk around Ogimachi and a tour in one of the famous gassho houses. The roofs, made without nails, provided a large attic space used for cultivating silkworms. I was desperate for us to stay in one of the gassho-zukuri farmhouses as I read somewhere that they cook your dinner on an open fire (irori) whilst you all cosy up together in the huge lounge. It sounded fab but the tourist office told us they were all fully booked, no surprise really since it was the middle of summer.

At around 5 we decided to pop into the local onsen at a hotel in Ogimachi which was nice but nothing to rave about. It did have a nice view over the river (but you really had to strain to see between the bamboo fence)


You know you're in the mountains when you get a rug like this in your room!

We ended up spending the night at a ryokan (Japanese hotel) down the road opposite the petrol station about a 10 min walk out of Ogimachi, hahaha, typical. The owners didn’t speak any English so I did my best broken Japanese and we were taken to our room which sported the hugest bear skin rug I’d ever seen (in fact the only one) It even had the bloody claws still in it which I stepped on with my bare feet (excuse pun), eeeewww! Now to anyone who hasn't stayed in a ryokan (Japanese style hotel) you have to sleep on the floor (on a futon mattress that you pull out) so basically one of us had to partially sleep on the bear. Guess who did? Yep, mum, hahahaha.

Mum soaking in the culture (i.e getting her "softo" ice cream fix)

Kanazawa to Shirakawago via the Super Rindo Forest Road.

So despite having allocated a few days “rest” in our manic travelling schedule mum was keen on doing something so I got the map out and saw it wasn’t too far from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go (a UNESCO heritage site so knew there had to be a reason) and we could take the Super Rindo Forest Road (which I heard was beautiful) on the way there. So split second decision and within the hour we were in the lilac autombile (which we had now christened FUK-U-MI having crossed a bridge in Noto with the name) clutching our coffee and pastry breakfasts.

Wonderful waterfall on the Super Rindo Forest road, check out it's name ; )

From Kanazawa it only took about a half hour heading south on the 157 Route towards Mount Hakusan until we were amongst the beautiful mountains. By the time we reached the toll gate for the Super Rindo Forest Road mum we’d already had a few hair raising “oh god we’re going to fall off the edge” moments in the car. The toll cost ￥2500 (summer special) as far as I remember but it was so worth it. The drive is absolutely breathtaking, totally unspoilt and we loved every minute. There were some beautiful waterfalls, cliff faces and stunning views from the top. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

PS Drivers beware. At one point on the road, these spacious comfy double lanes change into a single so when you meet another car coming the other way you’re only option is reversing which can rattle anyone’s nerves with a sheer 1,450 metre drop to the side of you!

The Super Rindo Forest Road is a “MUST DO” on anyone’s trip to Kanazawa and can easily done as a daytrip so don't hesitate. If you’re visiting in Autumn this would be the top of my list.

Adventures in the Noto Penninsula: Senmaida & The Miraculous Petrol Station

Senmaida rice paddies near Wajima

As we headed up the coast towards Senmaida from Wajima I realised we were running out of fuel. Using our trusty Japanese sat nav I located our nearest petrol station. (ok I didn’t understand the words but could see the petrol stations and onsen icons so quite handy!) Got there and it was shut, crap! Mum was starting to get wound up as the petrol light had come on. Went to the next station and it was also shut. Ah it was Sunday. Note to self: don’t run out of petrol in rural Japan on a Sunday...

We decided to head back to the B&B, feeling defeated and quietly sulking. After 5 miles nothing, another 5 miles nothing. Now we're starting to panic that we might not actually make it back. eeeek.....but never fear....

The mighty lord shined upon us and giveth an OPEN petrol station another mile down the road (it had to be him, or some miraculous intervention as it wasn’t on the sat nav) So the lovely lady filled up our tank, even practiced some English with us and we were back on our Noto tour. Next stop Senmaida Rice Fields, having done a 20 mile detour...



"Senmaida" literally means "a thousand rice paddies". Apparently in the past, tiered rice paddies like this were a common site all along the Sea of Japan coast. This is one of the most famous existing seaside rice paddies in Japan and it didn’t disappoint. Small terraced rice paddies on the dramatically steep hillsides tiered down to the sea.


Although it was raining we still took the extremely steep (and fairly dangerous when wet) path down to the sea. NB Don’t take the path parallel to the sea because it leads to nowhere! We loved Senmaida and as usual stopped for a “softo” (aka Mr Whippy ice cream) and enjoyed the view from the top.

See my other post about the wedding that took place at Senmaida as well as me helping out the locals with their rice harvest. Amazing!