Through Toyama, and a Visit to Kanazawa

 By the end of the first week of October we realised we hadn’t had a single rest day yet this month. We had intended to, but had found ourselves staying at basic campsites that didn’t invite you to stay an extra night. However, when we arrived at Namerikawa and realised that there were showers, a public baths, a laundrette and a pretty decent town nearby, we decided that this was the place to stop. We arrived on Friday to an empty campsite, pitched our tent slightly away from the seafront under some pine trees, and it proceeded to rain all night. By the following evening, the campsite had transformed into tent city. This indicates two things: firstly that it’s the weekend, and secondly that the weather is going to be fine. We can get a pretty accurate weather forecast by assessing how busy the campsite is. At 6am on Sunday morning we were awoken by the sound of hedge strimmers; apparently this was the opportune moment to cut those hedges. 

Namerikawa

Back on the road, we made our way across Toyama. This was another sprawling city, but once you popped out the other side you were back in agricultural land. We were surprised to find a busy campsite, seeing that it was Sunday night, but it turned out that the next day was a public holiday: Sports and Health Day. The Japanese are serious campers and they often bring car-loads of stuff with them: tarps, gazebos, firepits, table and chairs, multiple cooler boxes, lanterns, fairy lights etc. This time we were camped between two large families and the laughter, light, and food smells coming from both sides was enough to make us feel a little envious that we were sitting on the floor eating our 4-minute pasta. 

Again, another early start, this time waking to the chatter of children. R has never been a morning person but Japan is fixing that. When we finally got out of the tent, about 6.30 am, OAPs were already gathering on the lawn opposite to start a game of pitch and put. It seems that the public holiday is strictly adhered to. We participated by riding up a steep hill in the midday sun. We were on our way to Kanazawa (on the other side of the hills) for a three day stop-over. The Rough Guide states that ‘this is the one place on the Sea of Japan coast that you really shouldn’t miss’. Since we’ve travelled along much of this coastline, we thought we’d better take a look. 

Kanazawa is the first place we’ve come to in Japan where we haven’t felt like the only tourists. Apparently, it’s a popular ‘next visit’ destination for those travellers who’ve seen Tokyo and Kyoto. It’s a modern city with lots of restaurants and cafes, a booming harbour and market, and several sites of cultural interest. 

One highlight is the beautiful Kenroku-en gardens, considered one of the best in Japan, adorned with carefully shaped trees, young women dressed in kimonos, small ponds filled with carp, and stone lanterns. There were many examples of niwaki, the Japanese craft of tree training, in progress. 

Kenroku-en Gardens

Training the trees

Taking photos

On our second day, we left our bikes behind and took a bus to the village of Shirakawa-go, one of three villages in the area famous for its thatched ‘praying hands’ houses. It’s nestled in the heart of the mountains on a strip of flat land; a spectacular setting, and the journey in demonstrated just how remote and isolated these villages are. It was also nice to appreciate the mountains without having to navigate them by bike. 

Shirakawa-go, nestled in the mountains

The thatched houses, with roofs almost sloping to the floor, were designed to withstand the harsh winters using the layer of snow on thatch as extra insulation. Beneath the roofs are several layers of flooring, which were used for different purposes, one of which was the cultivation of silkworm. 

The ‘praying hands’ houses

Kanazawa is a vibrant, interesting city, and we are glad to have been able to visit. However, our fondest memory won’t be of the things we saw and did there, but of the people we met, in particular, Nobu and his mum Sacchan. We got in contact with Nobu through Warm Showers. If you’ve not heard of Warm Showers, it’s a website which is essentially couch surfing specifically for bicycle tourers – you sign up and create a profile, and you can then search out other members in a particular area, who you can contact to ask if you can stay with them, or for help or advice. It’s a social contract – in return, you might offer to host other bicycle tourers in your own home. Nobu had recently returned from a 3 year bicycle touring adventure, and was back in his home town of Kanazawa living with his mum. He offered to host us for a few nights whilst we visited the city. Nobu and Sacchan were warm, incredibly kind and open hosts – we spent our evenings drinking tea, beer and sake with them, and the other bike tourers Nobu was hosting – Gerald from Singapore and Marc from Switzerland by way of Thailand – talking, sharing experiences, and just as often, laughing. It was wonderful to suddenly have allies in our adventure, friends who understood and are sharing in the challenges and rewards of what we are doing, who had also dodged Typhoon Talim, knew the struggle of mountain road tunnels, and how precious the free Wifi at Family Mart is. After several weeks of quite limited human contact, we left Kanazawa feeling renewed by their company. 

Gerald heads North

Saying goodbye to Sacchan

Drinking sake with Marc and Nobu. Good times!