About the Trip
This 13-day trip will start in Asakusa in the middle of Tokyo, and will cover three main destinations within Ishikawa Prefecture — City of Kanazawa, Wajima, and Suzu. Travelers will experience Japan's coastal landscape, a local harvest festival, small fishing villages along the Japan Sea in modern yet traditional country.
This trip will be a group excursion to the countryside of Japan with other photographers. While the tour will move from one location to another as a group, there will be plenty of time to explore each location on your own depending on your interests. In Kanazawa, a smaller city, travelers will be provided with a one day pass for public transportation to move around the city after recievng a general orientation with a guided tour. In Wajima and Suzu, the group will explore locations by bus from one point of interest to another.
Throughout the trip, there will be plenty of attractions and points of interest for your photographic curiosity; from coastal landscape, traditional architectures of temples and shrines, to street scenes of fishing towns and a local festival. To further assist your photographic experience, the tour will bring a large format camera and toy camera for participants to try out.
While there will be an emphasis on visiting scenic locations and exploring local events for shooting, various activities to connect people in the local community for a cultural exchange will be organized such as meeting local photography group to exhcange images. These elements will make this trip truly unique.
This is one of our premium trips organized by a Japanese photographer for photographers who appreciate the sensibilities of the Japanese people and its landscape.
About the Location
The tour will begin in Tokyo, Asakusa, the center of popular culture from the Edo period. After spending a day exploring the Asakusa area and visiting the Tsukiji Fish Market, the group will take a sleeper car to Kanazawa, the very train made famous in a murder mystery novel by Kyotaro Nishimura, a popular Japanese writer.
In Kanazawa, a relatively small city where everything is located within a walking distance or accessible by public transportation, the group will spend two full days visiting Kenroku-en, one of the three famous gardens in Japan, clusters of temples, museums, and busy markets. The groups will stay in a modern hotel in the middle of the city conveniently located to major attractions such as Kenroku Garden, Kanazawa Castle Park, and Museum of Contemporary Art.
From Kanazawa, the tour will travel by bus en route to Oku-Noto, a remote part of the Noto Peninsula, and will visit two smaller fishing towns, Wajima and Suzu.
Wajima which is famous for the production of lacquerware will be the first stop. After visiting a morning market, a local sake producer, a quite fishing port, and a laquerware production facility, there will be a short trip to ourskirts of Wajima visiting a Zen Temple for an experience of mediation and Buddhist followed by vegetarian cuisine for lunch. Also this short trip will include visiting small fishing villages along with the coast of the Japan Sea. In Wajima, the tour will stay in a Japanese-style room with tatami mat with a pool-size public hot spring bath overseeing Japan Sea.
From Wajima, the group will continue on to the end of the Peninsula where Suzu is located. In Suzu, there will be a two day local festival in the neighborhood of Takojima. The festival includes a traditional procession of people carrying lavishly decorated tall lanterns accompanied by flutes and drumming throughout the town. The two day festival will culminate in a traditional comedy play performed in a local shrine late in the evening. The group will stay in intimate family-run B&B for two night in the center of festival location.
Itinerary
- September 1
- Arrive Narita Airport
- Meet in Asakusa
- Dinner in Asakusa
- September 2
- Sightseeing in Asakusa
- Leave for Kanazawa with a sleeper train
- September 3 - 5
- Explore & photograph in Kanazawa
- Dinner in Kanazawa
- September 6
- Leave for Wajima by bus
- Explore & photograph Wajima
- Dinner in Wajima
- September 7 - 8
- Explore & photograph Wajima including a drive along the coast and visits small fishing towns and a zen temple.
- Dinner in Wajima
- September 9
- Leave for Suzu
- Explore & photograph in Suzu
- Dinner in Suzu
- September 10 - 11
- Photograph local festival in Takojima neighborhood
- Dinner in Suzu
- September 12
- Return to Kanazawa
- Explore & photograph in Kanazawa
- Leave for Tokyo by sleeper train
- September 13
- Arriving in Ueno
- Tour will end upon the return to Tokyo
- (Participants can take the afternoon flight to go back or have an option to stay longer in Tokyo. Please contact us for more details)