Haneda to Noto

Bottled water in the Seattle or San Francisco airports was $5 per bottle. The same size bottle in Haneda was 110 Yen, about $1.00. I hadn't noticed the difference before and I don't know the cause but I found it interesting. Maybe it's because bottled water is allowed through security here whereas the TSA doesn't allow it. Maybe captive customers are the cause.

Most airports have bus loading gates for short local flights. When the flight is called, passengers walk out to the bus, get off the bus near the plane, walk across the tarmac, climb the portable steps and so board the plane.

Haneda has small buildings on the tarmac with entry doors on one side, an escalator inside and two regular jetways attached to the side opposite the doors. Passengers exit their bus, step inside past the ticket checker, up the short escalator, walk out the jetway and board the plane. Seems like a pretty good solution to the problem of limited gates while giving the passengers a little more comfort. What a concept.

As we climbed out I got a long shot of Mt Fuji. Since we were headed almost due west, I hoped to get a better shot as we passed nearby. Sure enough, as we got closer I had a good view with the top third of Fujisan clad in a mantle of snow. By the time I got my phone out, we entered a high cloud layer just enough to obscure the mountain. Oh well, missed the photo but have a special mental image. Sometimes I think the mental images better since they are favorably edited over time, resulting in great memories.

Fujisan from over Tokyo

We arrived at cruising altitude just in time to start back down, and soon landed at the small Noto airport. First stop in the Noto area was in the town of Wajima, famous for lacquerware, where we toured the Wajima Urushi Craft Museum.

Many exquisite pieces of locally made lacquerware on display

While stopped in Wajima, I walked down a side street where an old house caught my eye.

Nearby there was s small lantern surrounded with another local product.

One of the feature attractions during local festivals is the "kiriko" a kind of float that is carried on the shoulders of young men. Here in Wajima we visited the Kiriko Museum where the best of the old kiriko are retired.

In the photo on the right, the kiriko on the right is an old one, now retired. It is four meters high and when carried, it weighed 2 tons and required fifty young men to carry it.

Here's a a copy of an old photo showing that same kiriko in action. The newer kiriko are smaller so power lines over the streets don't have to be lowered to prepare for their passing.

We stopped for a traditional Japanese lunch and then made our way to the Senmaida terraced rice paddies where more than one thousand terraced paddies stair-step down the hillside to the ocean, just as they have for thousands of years. This area has been designated a Global Heritage Site (GIAHS) because, although these kinds of terraced paddies were common in Japan for many years, as farms have become mechanized, paddies have been consolidated and the small terraced paddies requiring all manual labor have become a thing of the past.

At night the fields are outlined with solar powered LED lights.

Next on the itinerary was a visit to an old residence of one of the rulers of this area, Kami Tokikunike. This is another well-deserved Heritage Site. I find it amazing that some of the old wooden buildings survive this long. This house was built in the early 1800's over a period of 28 years to replace the original built around 1300.

I've reached the allotted length set by Blogger so will continue on the next entry.