Saturday 5/15: Noto Trip, Day 1

On Saturday morning, my Japanese class left for a short weekend trip to the Noto Peninsula. Ishikawa Prefecture (like a state) is pretty small population-wise; the Sea of Japan brings some nasty weather in the winter, so everyone lives on the East Coast of Japan. Kanazawa is the biggest city at around 400,000 so we took a trip to the scenic coastline and smaller towns in the peninsula. First we got to drive along Chirihama beach, which has beach sand so fine that you can drive a car on it. This is only my third time seeing the ocean, so the novelty of the ocean was still there. The weather was really great too- perfect for dipping my feet in the ocean.

Then we went to a local Shinto Shrine which I think is one of the oldest in the country. The place was very pretty, especially the woods surrounding it. There was a great mixture of pine trees and deciduous ones in the surrounding mountains, and the trees were really old in the property surrounding the shrine. Ive decided that Shintoism is pretty unashamedly commercial- there was a place to buy good luck charms or fortunes (100 yen for a normal fortune, 200 for a love fortune). However, it obviously means a lot to some people, so who am I to judge? There was a birth ceremony going on at the temple when we were there. Parents will bring their children to the temple after they're born to perform a ceremony that will protect the child.

After that and a delicious lunch at a fisherman's wharf, we went to a place called Ganmon. Its a place where the ocean has eroded away a sea cave and a big archway through a rock. It is definitely the prettiest place we went the entire trip. The water was really clear, you could see to the bottom in most places. I walked out to the edge of the rocks and hung out next to all the crashing waves until Sirocco yelled at me to get away because I might get knocked over by rogue waves. Overall though, it was really beautiful.

Finally, we went to a buddhist temple that is one of the oldest in Japan. To be honest, it was a bit of a letdown-half the place was under construction, and the pond looked pretty icky. Other than that, it was pretty. I am a fan of japanese gardens and bridges. Also, there were a couple really cool-looking hawks(?) that flew really close by.

We then reached the hotel, called View Sunset. The architecture was totally supposed to be futuristic- the front desk area was shaped like a UFO. But the hotel turned out to be really nice. The boys and girls got separate cottages, called Carrot and Potato respectively. The girls cottage had great windows that overlooked the ocean, and the staff left delicious japanese sweets for us :)

The most... culturally expanding part of the day was going to the onsen after dinner. These are gender-separate public baths/ hot springs. First us girls went over there and had to strip, then take a quick shower and go into the hottest hot tub ever created. It was really awkward at first, since everyone was naked, but I just tried to think of the Degas paintings of nude people bathing, and thats pretty much what it was like. Also, it was a bit of a confidence booster- i have 20 plus years before gravity wins :D When we couldnt tolerate the hot water any longer, we went to the outside pool, which was still pretty warm but not as terrible, and got to sit and look out at the ocean.