Near the famous Wajima morning market we stumble upon an old-fashioned café. It looks like a relic from the 1950s or 60s and we do not find that surprising at all. The remote Noto Peninsula is far away from the glitzy modern cities of Tokyo and Osaka. North of the historic town of Kanazawa it stretches about 100 km into the Sea of Japan. A place where Japanese travel if they want to experience traditional Japan. Although it is a bit difficult to get around in the area, the Noto Peninsula is worth a few days if you want to get off the beaten track. For the update of our Japan guidebook “Stefan Loose Japan” we visited the Noto Peninsula for the second time – revisiting some spots and discovering some new places.
Delicacies at the famous Wajima morning market
Entering the café, we realise that the space is divided: One part is that old-fashioned corner with high leather bar stools and a coin telephone. The other part provides leaflets, information folders, and a clipboard to write your name. The café featured in the popular Japanese TV morning drama “Mare” that aired in 2015. Over the years it has become a sightseeing spot among fans.
The Wajima morning market is one of the three famous morning markets in Japan, we have read. One of the others is the Takayama morning market, which we also know. About the third, opinions are divided: Katsuura? Yobuko? Hachinohe? In any case, it has to be “three famous xxx” in Japan …
Due to a flat tyre (yes, shit happens during a research trip), we are a bit late, and the weather is lousy too, so many of the stalls have closed already. However, several shops are still selling fresh fish, octopus, and giant crabs. There’s a rest area where visitors can rent a gas grill to prepare their fresh fish purchases! Fugu, the poisonous Japanese Pufferfish, is a popular dish around here. And we see Fugu Donburi offered in the restaurants – Fugu nuggets on a bowl of rice.
Being vegetarians, we skip the fish offers and search for the famous stall selling “Egaramanju”. This local speciality consists of sweet beans (anko) and rice, like many Japanese sweets. But in this case the anko is not too sweet, and the rice is glaringly yellow. Traditionally, the people of Wajima use the pollen of gardenia to colour the rice, the old vendor explains.
Wajima lacquerware – one of the most delicate and expensive lacquerwares in Japan
After strolling up and down the Morning Market we move on to the nearby Lacquer Hall. Wajima is among the most famous areas in Japan producing lacquerware. A technique imported from China long ago, real lacquerware is incredibly laborious and costly. The wooden bowls, boxes or chopsticks get a thin layer of lacquer – the sap of a tree native to East Asia. You then need to dry and polish the lacquer, only to start again and again. Some lacquerwares have up to 80 layers of lacquer! The small exhibition on the 2nd floor of the Lacquer Hall clearly explains the process. The Wajima lacquer goods are very shiny and beautiful, but they are also quite expensive – at most we buy a pair of chopsticks in Wajima … But just strolling through the shops and seeing all these delicate artwork fills us with joy.
When we enter a small coffee shop to watch the sumo finals, we even get the coffee in a beautiful red lacquerware cup.
The devilish drummers of the Noto Peninsula
In the evening a drumming performance for tourists takes place at a parking lot near the harbour. Summer festivals, or matsuri, have an archaic element in many areas of Japan. And on the remote Noto Peninsula, some eery traditions have survived in the Kiriko matsuri. Most places have their own kiriko matsuri – hundreds of them all over the Noto Peninsula, where villagers pull huge festival floats into the sea. A major feature are the scarily clad taiko drummers. Legend has it that pirates were threatening to attack the coast of Noto Peninsula. The frightened villagers got out their largest drums, donned huge hairy wigs and cloaks, and made so much noise that the pirates feared the coast was full of dangerous demons. With flickering open fires, the wild drummers transform the bare parking lot into a space of shadows and ogres …
Salt from the sea
North of Wajima, the high coastal cliffs of Noto Peninsula were also an unlikely place to produce sea salt. As the region wanted to be self-sufficient, local craftsmen pulled up the sea water onto the cliffs, boiled it and then spread the salty brine on sand to gain sea salt. This labour-intensive way of making salt was strategically sensible once upon a time. Today, a number of salt factories still produce salt this way, and you can even try salt-making yourself! The salt producers are all near the picturesque Senmaida – the “1000 rice paddies” stretching over a coastal slope.
More sightseeing spots on the Noto Peninsula
During a two-day visit to the Noto Peninsula, we check out some more sightseeing spots. Our personal favourite among the off the beaten track sites is a historical excavation near the town of Mawaki. There, scientists have discovered the remains of a Jomon village. The Jomon people populated Japan several thousand years ago before being driven northward by new waves of immigrants from the Asian mainland. They had a highly developed culture and were among the first people worldwide to make and use pottery. They also made strange clay idols with eyes that look like goggles. But being so ancient, not much is known about the Jomon people. At Mawaki Jomon Park, a few enigmatic pillars have been reconstructed in the centre of their village. There is a recreated hut, and a museum shows Jomon artefacts with surprisingly elaborate designs.
Not far from this we see several distinct hunting hides on stilts in the water. They are called Bora-machi Yagura and were used for fishing. The fishermen would sit on the tripod-like seats and wait for a school of mullet. Once the fish were below them, they could suddenly pull up a prepared net.
These seats are typical for the sheltered bay on the east side of the Noto Peninsula. This bay, with the small island of Notojima in its centre, is also a place where dolphins often come so close to the coast that you can watch them from the shore. Unfortunately, it was not the season for dolphin watching when we visited.
How to get to the remote Noto Peninsula
The best way to go around on the Noto Peninsula is definitely by car. However, with more time on your hands, exploration by train and bus is possible.
This time when we drove up to the remote Noto Peninsula from Kanazawa, we skipped the huge, long beach of Chirihama. The 8 km beach is popular with Japanese travellers because it is accessible by car.
But we made a stop at the tranquil Keta Taisha Shrine, one of the oldest and biggest shrines in the area. With its simple wooden pillars and some side shrines that consist only of a torii (gate) leading into the deep woods it looks very archaic and mysterious.
How much time should you plan for a visit to the Noto Peninsula?
Tourist buses do the trip to Wajima in one day, but we don’t think that does the area any justice. With a car, two days are enough to see some of the main sightseeing spots. But if you really want to get off the beaten path in Japan, allow yourself three days or more on the remote Noto Peninsula.
We were not sponsored to write this blogpost and paid all expenses by ourselves.
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We did not get north of Tokyo when we visited Japan but we were intrigued with the little we read before we visited. Although we really did not learn much about the Noto Peninsula until I read this post. Good to know you liked it so much you planned a return visit. Fascinating to learn more about the traditional salt production process. And strange to see the standing stones that reminded me of Stonehenge.
Dear Linda, the Noto Peninsula is quite remote, but not too difficult to reach. And until now, not so many tourists make it there.
This is so interesting: Noto looks so different than all the glitz and glam of the cities I visited on my trip to Japan. Obviously, there is a more hidden side that you don’t access that easily as a visitor but is totally worth exploring. However, it doesn’t surprise me that you can visit the peninsula by train and bus. I was amazed by the excellent system of public transportation in Japan – especially since I found the country partly a bit Americanized, yet not in that respect. Perfect for a designated non-driver like myself 😉
Dear Renata – you are right. Most parts of Japan are accesible by public transport. Sometimes it needs more advance planing and you travel slower than by car. But that is part of the fun, isn`t it? It is a pity that so many visitors stick to the big cities like Kyoto, Tokyo and Osaka and mostly do day trips from there. There is so much charming countryside to discover in Japan.
Good to know that there’s a vegetarian version of Egaramanju. The traditional lacquer ware is is intriguing, esp when you say that there are some with 80 layers! Good that they have an exhibition to explain the process. I really wouldn’t miss the traditional dance performance of the Noto Peninsula. I’d love to see the traditional salt making, coz we have the tradition in India too and it would interesting to compare the 2.
Dear Busha, Egaramanju are always vegetarian – but in general the food is very fishy, as you would expect in an area so close to the sea. There are a lot of places famous for laquerware in Japan, but in our opinion the Wajima laquerware is the most beautiful.
Fugu nuggets sound so cool! I had fugu once when I was in Tokyo in 2019, I found it very light and airy tasting, with just a small hint of fish but no real strong flavors. I have never heard of Wajima lacquerware but it looks so lovely, up to 80 layers of lacquer sounds so insane! The bright red color really comes off strongly but gives me a rich and luxurious vibe, so I can see how these may fetch a high price. Your post makes me nostalgic for Japan!
Dear Alice, the Noto Peninsula offers a very rural Japan experience. I am sure you would enjoy it!
Now this is the kind of Japan I want to see! I first thought you were in Sicily when I read Noto but I I quickly realised it was Japan! The market sounds like somewhere I’d love to visit, but it’s scary that the fugu fish is served here. The paddies are mesmerising and I had no idea about the salt production here. I can see why the beach is popular, 8km is long and the sand looks so clean.
Dear Lisa, yes, I recently learned about Noto in Sicily too! Actually the beach is popular, because it is very densly packed sand and you can drive on the beach with a normal car (no 4×4).
The best way to understand a culture fully is to step away from the tourist areas and frequent less visited places, of which the Noto Peninsular sounds like one of these. It would be somewhere I would add to a Japan itinerary. I would love to see the Wajima lacquerware (and probably be tempted to buy a piece), but maybe my wallet would only stretch to the chopsticks!
I was interested to read about matsuri and how they came about. I love visiting traditional shows where stories are played out using costumes and instruments. The masks of the matsuri are quite frightening, so I can imagine they did a good job of scaring away invaders!
Noto Peninsula looks like a great place to visit. I like remote areas, which are hard to access because they tend to be so much more authentic and you can observe the local way of life so much better. I am not vegetarian, so I would definitely indulge in the fresh fish from the market. Renting a grill to barbecue your fish is such a smart idea! I would also like to watch the old way of making sea salt.I’ve never seen such a method before. The evening show looks pretty fierce, I’d love to watch it. And driving on sand… that must be such a unique experience!
This place is more to my tastes when it comes to Japan. I loved reading about it and seeing the cultural nuances. Wajima lacquerware with 80 layers is something that I would want to see in detail. Interesting to see how the sea salt is being produced here. And yes, I am always up for some local music and dance.
A sight to behold must have been the Noto Peninsula’s high coastal cliffs and picturesque landscapes. I was delighted to learn that you also visited other tourist attractions in the area. Of course, the Wajima Morning Market is a hidden treasure. The bustling environment, the abundance of fresh fish and local goods, and the opportunity to immerse yourself in local culture must have been wonderful. Your adventurous spirit and desire to visit off-the-beaten-path locations are absolutely admirable.
Wow! This place is interesting. Though there is a low chance we will be visiting this, I am glad to read your post and learn about the Noto Peninsula. I would love to learn more about their local culture and see the salt-making process personally. They say that salt is still way better to be made this way than the one from the factories.
Dear Clarice, salt played such an important role in history throughout the world and it is really eye-opening to see the tradtional salt making process.