Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
Setsubun is February 3rd this year, and you’ve probably already seen ogre decorations in your school or ogre masks on sale at your local department store. Here’s a rundown of Setsubun traditions and events in Ishikawa.
First off, what is Setsubun? Setsubun is actually a bit of a misnomer, as the name 節分 just means “seasonal divide” and refers to the midpoint in between solstices and equinoxes as determined by the classical Chinese lunisolar calendar. There are actually four setsubun in a year: 立春 (risshun, spring setsubun, February 4th), 立夏 (rikka, summer setsubun, May 5th), 立秋 (risshuu, fall setsubun, August 7th) , and 立冬 (rittou, winter setsubun, November 7th). In the classical Chinese lunisolar calendar, these dates–not the solstices and equinoxes themselves–are considered to be the beginning of the new season. Of these four, only the spring setsubun is a major festival in Japan, so the term stuck to that day.
Traditionally, Setsubun was a time to celebrate the end of the coldest period of winter and a time to drive away any lingering bad luck. The most famous Setsubun tradition is 豆撒き (mamemaki), throwing beans to cast out evil spirits and purify the home. Some homes with children choose a family member to wear an ogre mask and throw beans at them, yelling 「福は内、鬼は外!」(fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto, good luck in, demons out!) and slamming the door behind them when they inevitably run away.
Shrines will have similar Setsubun festivities where visitors can purchase beans to throw at volunteers in ogre masks. Sardine heads and boughs of holly act as a further deterrent for bad spirits, and visitors can pick up any protection or luck charms they might have forgotten at New Year’s.
In recent years, supermarkets and convenience stores throughout Japan have picked up the Osaka tradition* of selling 恵方巻 (ehoumaki, whole sushi rolls) at Setsubun. Eating the whole roll in silence while facing the given year’s chosen direction is said to grant good luck.
Interested in seeing some Setsubun festivities but don’t have access to a household full of small Japanese children to throw beans at? Kanazawa’s Utasu Jinja has a Setsubun Festival every year. The geisha and maiko of Kanazawa’s Higashi Chaya district perform a fan dance at this festival and then throw blessed beans to the crowd so visitors can take them home for luck.
What: Utasu Shrine Setsubun Festival 宇多須神社節分祭り
When: Sunday February 3, 2013.
13:00 Sake tasting
14:00 Setsubun matsuri opening ceremony
14:30 Geisha performance (fan dance)
15:00 Bean-throwing ceremony
Where: Utasu Shrine, Higashi Chaya, Kanazawa
Getting There: From Kanazawa station, take the Loop Bus to the Hashibachou Kouban-mae stop (橋場町交番前), L6. The shrine is a 5 minute (and very scenic!) walk away.
Walking directions from the bus stop:
Experience Kanazawa has more details about the festival here.
If your town has an awesome Setsubun festival, please comment with info!
福は内、鬼は外！
Foodies of Ishikawa, you’re in for a treat! Yuka Kokon is offering a class next week at Noppo kun restaurant about how to make and season foods with salt koji, an Ishikawa specialty. What is salt koji, you may ask? Koji is a trendy fermented seasoning (like miso) made of steamed rice and the same fermenting agent used in sake and soy sauce.
In this class, you will be taught how to make your own salt koji and also how to use salt koji in other recipes.
Class Information
When: Thursday, January 24th, from 10 am to 12:30 pm.
Where: Noppo kun Restaurant and Natural Foods Market in Nonoichi
石川県野々市市本町2-1-24
Cost: 2,500 yen. This includes lunch!
Contact: koji.seminar(at)gmail.com
The organizer of this event is English-proficient and will be on-hand during the demonstration. Both the chef and the organizer are excited to share this little-known specialty with Ishikawa’s foreign residents, so even if you can’t attend, pass word along!
Salt Koji Cooking Seminar (ENG)
The Senmaida (1000 rice fields) Light Up is brightening up Wajima on October 13th (Saturday) this year.
Senmaida lit up at night.
Senmaida is a designated national cultural asset, and is lit up with 30,000 candles every year after the rice cutting. If you’re interested in volunteering to place all those candles, now’s your chance!
Every year, JETs from around Ishikawa volunteer as one of Senmaida’s akaribito–light people–to place and light candles in the rice fields. This year, 350 volunteers are needed, and each will receive a special gift (a tote bag and face towel are shown on the website) as well as something to drink, for their work. The sign up sheets for volunteering can be found here: http://semmaida.kuronowish.com/senakari/tomoshi.html
Transport to Wajima Michi-no-eki is usually organised amongst volunteering JETs (carpools), or you can make use of the Noto Furusato Ticket for trains as far as Anamizu. For more information on the bus bus from Anamizu to Wajima michi-no-eki here. You could also take a bus to Wajima.
Free shuttle buses to Senmadia will be available from the following locations to transport volunteers: Wajima Michi-no-eki, Wajima Marine Town (14:20), Nafunegyokou (14:35), Sosogi Furusato Taikenjisshukan and Najimi-kaizen centre (14:20).
14:20 – Free shuttle bus for volunteers starts operating
14:50 – All volunteers meet at Senmaida Pocket Park
15:00 – Activity explanation and separation of volunteers into groups
15:20 – Start placing candles
16:30 – short break (each volunteer is given something to drink). The remaining candles etc will be collected, and the volunteers must each take the tools for lighting the candles
16:50 – start lighting candles
17:30 – finish lighting candles, event starts
17:50 – volunteers create a circle with flashlights
17:00 – UNESCO sites in the Oku-Noto
17:30 - Wajima Wadaiko-toranosuke (wadaiko drum performance)
17:50 – Opening ceremony; volunteers create circle of light
18:30 – Ishikawa-ken Intangible Cultural Asset; Gojinjodaiko taiko drumming
19:10 – Quintet CIRC
19:50 – Yanawaraba mini concert
21:00 – End of event; shuttle buses back to Wajima Michi-no-eki and other designated shuttle bus spots.
Note: For non-volunteers, the shuttle bus is ¥200, and starts operating from 16:00.
Senmaida is truly a beautiful sight, so if you can go or missed out last year, I highly recommend it! 
Salutations! I hope this post reaches you in good and pleasant spirits. I’m writing to tell you about an amazing festival that is taking place this week in the Noto!
“Where is the Noto?”, you might ask. The Noto is the northern half of the Ishikawa prefecture. The Noto is split up into 3 sections: Kuchi-Noto (Entrance of Noto), Naka-Noto (Middle of Noto), and Oku-Noto (Depths of Noto).
One of the biggest reasons to come to the Noto is the massive festivals that take place throughout it. In fact, if you have free time or cultural furlough this week, I’d recommend that you come to Wajima for the Wajima Taisai. As one of the premiere festivals of the Oku-Noto, you can count on having large amounts of merriment and long lasting memories. The festival comes highly recommended and is a must see event for JETs and visitors to Ishikawa.
Where:
Times and Locations:
The Festival is a combination of the festivals of four different shrines in Wajima in the towns of:
Ama-machi (海士町): Aug. 22 (Wednesday) 16:00 – 23:00
Kawai-machi (河井町): Aug. 23 (Thursday) 15:00 – 24:00
Fugeshi-machi (鳳至町): Aug. 24 (Friday) 8:00 – 24:00
Wajimazaki-machi (輪島崎町): Aug. 25 (Saturday) 8:00 – 11:00
Resident Expert Tip #1: The festival starts getting exciting after 8:00pm
Resident Expert Tip #2: Find a Kiriko Team, follow them and you’re bound to have fun.
Highlights of Wajima Taisai:
If you’d like to forge your own path in terms of festival planning, make sure to take a peek at the Wajima Taisai event page: http://www.city.wajima.ishikawa.jp/kanko2/maturi/taisai.html
Transportation:
Depending on where you’re coming from, it’s quite easy to get to Wajima.
By Bus from Kanazawa:
Ø Buses leave for Wajima from Kanazawa station roughly once every hour throughout the day, 7 days a week, from PLATFORM 1 from the East Exit (the main exit with the big wooden gate). It takes 2 hours each way and costs 2200 yen one way (3950 yen round trip, if you purchase beforehand in the Station). Pay when you get off in Wajima.
Ø Bus times from Kanazawa Station Platform 1 to Wajima: 7：20, 8：50, 10：00, 12：35, 13：35, 14：35, 15：35, 16：35, 17：35, 18：35, 20：10
Ø Bus times from Wajima to Kanazawa Station Platform 1: 5：35, 6：40, 8：10, 9：10, 10：10, 11：10, 12：10, 14：00, 15：30, 16：40, 18：10
By Car from Kanazawa, Nanao, Anamizu, Tsubata, etc:
If you’re going by car, just take the Noto Yuryo toll road. Make sure to take the Anamizu Exit on the Yuryo and at the first intersection, take a left and then follow the road signs to Wajima (they’re all in English, so you shouldn’t get lost). The tolls from Kanazawa to Wajima cost about 1600 yen round trip (it’s much cheaper if you’re coming from anywhere in the Noto), so I suggest carpooling with some buds to keep costs down. There is plenty of free parking at the Wajima Station.
Once again, for more information make sure to take a peek at the Wajima Taisai event page: http://www.city.wajima.ishikawa.jp/kanko2/maturi/taisai.html
Please come out and partake in the festivities, if you can! It’s a great primer for Ishikawa’s festivals and also an excellent break from life at school or your BoE.
Happy Travels!
Alex will be a second-year ALT in Suzu. Where’s that you ask? Oh, it’s in the Noto. You know … the place with rice fields … and kiriko. That’s the one.
If you’re looking for something interesting and fun to do next weekend (July 20th and July 21st), why not come up to the Noto and visit Suzu City for the 2012 Iida Toroyama Festival in Iida Town.
There will be plenty of fun and interesting things to see and do all over Iida Town including various floats, food stalls and fireworks, just to name a few of the activities that you might get to see or try out. Look out for many delicious foods and snacks too!
INFORMATION:
When:
Friday July 20th 4:30pm to 11:00pm
Saturday July 21st 12:00pm to 12:00am
Where: Ishikawa Prefecture, Suzu city, Iida Town (Japanese: 石川県珠洲市飯田町)
Transportation:
From Kanazawa by Car:
For scheduling or brochure information in Japanese, please take a look at the following photos:
For more information in Japanese, be sure to check out: http://bunanomori.com/toroyama/
Alex will be a second-year ALT in Suzu. Where’s that you ask? Oh, it’s in the Noto. You know … the place with rice fields … and kiriko. That’s the one.
Summer in Japan just wouldn`t be complete without hanabi-taikai (firework shows)!
I recently got hold of this year`s lineup of events, so here you go! 
The Hokkoku Hanabi 2012:
Enjoy!
The city of Nanao is hosting another road race this summer – theHyokkori Notojima Road Race. Set to be held around none other than the beautiful Wakura Onsen, this promises to be just as scenic and rewarding a race as the Wakura Manyo-No-Sato Marathon in March this year.
While it might seem a ridiculous idea to run a race in summer (because we all know how cold summer is in Japan;) , it ain’t so crazy. Whether you’re in need of an excuse to whip yourself into summer shape, or just want to get out and enjoy some local cuisine and onsens with that Hokuriku Pass of yours, this is a great way to do it.
When?
The event itself is on July 1st (Sunday), held in Nanao City, at the 生涯学習センター (Shougai Gakushuu Centre).
Reception of participants will take place on June 31st (Saturday) from 13:30 – 16:30, and on Sunday July 1st from 7:30 – 8:30am.
The Centre is about a 15 minute car ride or 20 minute bus ride from Wakura Onsen station. There will be free shuttle buses operating from the station to the Centre on the day, however.
How?
Applications must be sent in via post office furikomi forms, or you can enter online at runnet.com (or any other Japanese running site) by simply signing up (free and easy) here:
http://runnet.jp/member/regist/kiyaku.html
And going to the race page here, and clicking the blue エントリー button:
http://runnet.jp/runtes/raceDetail/top/m58917.html
All entries must be in by 21st May 2012. Both race events cost Y3000. For online entries, you can choose to pay via convenience store machine, or credit card. Postal entries are cash only.
After your application has been received, you will receive your participant information packet in the mail in mid-June. Please be sure to take all of this with you, as you will need it to sign in at reception on the day.
What?
There are 10km and half marathon (21km) events, both of which seem to start at 9am.
The maximum time for each is 3 hours and 4 hours respectively, with the race courses having some minor inclines and declines. Although rainy weather is predicted for the event day, there are more refreshment and aid stations than usual along both race courses due to the heat.
What’s In It For Me?
Each participant will receive an event T-shirt (size selectable at the time of application), sports drinks, pork miso soup, onigiri, and a discounted onsen ticket after the race.
While the distances may seem too long for a casual summer jog, this is by no means an event for marathon pros. As a participant in the Manyo-No-Sato Marathon, I can attest to just how friendly and extremely supportive the locals of Nanao are to the runners. The local food stalls are also drool-worthy. It really is an awesome vibe! So even if you don’t want to run, it’d be well worth going up to Nanao to join in the support party!
So why not dust off your running shoes, grab yourself that Hokuriku Pass, and stride into summer? And hey, who doesn’t like a free T-shirt? 
What’s better than festival floats? Elementary school kids decked out in full kabuki gear performing short plays on festival floats, of course! This weekend is Komatsu’s famous Otabi Matsuri, a celebration of Komatsu’s local history and culture. If you’re curious about kabuki but are intimidated by formal performances, this is a great chance to see short performances in a casual atmosphere (with festival food).
Hikiyama floats from the eight central towns will be on display throughout downtown Komatsu all day. The floats in Nishi-machi and Muraki-machi will host hour-long Kabuki shows twice during the afternoon. At around 4:30, all eight floats will be carried to a central location and lit up for two evening performances. On Saturday, the first evening performance begins at 6:00. To get there, just take a right coming out of the station–the main gathering of floats will be at the intersection of the 305 and the station road.
Courtesy of Drachenman
Finally, an excuse to bring your flip-flops out of hiding! If you’re sticking around Ishikawa this Golden Week come on out to Uchinada Beach, just 15 minutes from KZ station, on May 3rd and 4th (Thursday and Friday) for this exciting daytime event.
The Uchinada World Kite Festival is in it’s 23rd year (last year was cancelled due to tsunami concerns), and it is the first event to re-open the Uchinada Beach area after winter – lots of fun, food, and sun to be had! If you’ve not been to this festival yet, I recommend it. The kites themselves are enormous! They seem more the size of a hot-air balloon than a kite and the people that fly them come from all over the world. The stunt kite competition is also very impressive, with teams of up to eight pilots flying their kites within inches of each other and performing all manner of figures and formations in the air while somehow narrowly averting disaster.
There will be cheap Japanese kites for sale, festival attendees are encouraged to try their hand at flying their own tako!
Read on for schedule and transportation info:
If you’re planning to send winter holiday greetings this year, how about sending your friends and family back home a nengajō, a Japanese new year’s card? Nengajō can be purchased anywhere from conbini to department stores, and you can even make your own. If you are planning to send them via international airmail, the Japan Post has some guidelines to ensure that your greetings get to their destination in a timely manner.
The carbon-offset nengajô from Japan Post.
Read on for detailed instructions on writing and addressing the perfect nengajō.
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