The Noto Peninsula is a curious place. Found midway along the western coast of Honshu, it sticks out into the Sea of Japan like the thumb of a hitchhiker trying to escape the shadow of the continent. Off the long arc of its eastern shore lies Toyama Bay which, at 1,000 meters deep, hosts an almost unimaginable variety of marine life. The shores exposed for eons to the winds and sands of far-off Siberia are marked by weather-worn cliffs and rock formations only Nature could dream up.
Temples sit quietly in the skirts of the forested mountains, as they have for over 1,000 years. Farms and rice fields conform to the contours of the thick green land. Coastal villages wear clothes that only time and the elements can provide.
All this, and nobody ever comes here.
