Noto bus tour supports hopes for reconstruction

“Noto’s reconstruction will be impossible unless tourism recovers” — that is a phrase we heard often while gathering material for this month’s feature on the Noto Peninsula.

Although tourism is one of Noto’s main industries, many hotels and ryokan inns are currently closed after sustaining major damage in the earthquake that struck the peninsula. Topping the list are those in the hot spring resort of Wakura Onsen, which boasts the lion’s share of guest rooms in the Noto region. While a growing number of facilities are gradually resuming business, the situation makes it hard to attract tourists wishing to stay overnight.

Against this backdrop, the company Kanazawa Adventures launched one-day Noto bus tours departing from the nearby city of Kanazawa in September, allowing tourists to fully enjoy the charms of those parts of the peninsula that can currently be visited. Company representative Kohei Takata told us that the catalyst for putting this tour together was a request from chef Toshiya Ikehata, who was honored in the 2022 Destination Restaurants list presented by The Japan Times.

“Before the disaster, our company’s bus tours featured a lunch stop at L’Atelier de Noto, where Mr. Ikehata is the owner-chef,” Takata said. “When he opened the eatery Mebuki in August 2024, following the disaster, I went there to celebrate with him. That was when Mr. Ikehata asked me to resume our tours. But at that stage, Noto was in no state to welcome tourists, and I didn’t want to make everyday life more difficult for people in disaster-stricken areas. Specifically, I was worried that operating tour buses might pose a nuisance to people going to hospitals, so I checked with him over and over again that it was really going to be OK for us to do this. He told me that he’d get the buy-in of locals, and that’s why I decided to restart our bus tours of Noto’s beauty spots.”

Before the disaster, the tour route had included the Wajima morning market and the Senmaida rice terraces, but since they suffered immense damage in the quake, Kanazawa Adventures now takes visitors to the Chirihama Nagisa Driveway, the only beach in Japan where you can drive right on the shore. Thanks to the cooperation of local citizens, the company is also able to show people around the village of Kuroshima, where the cultural heritage of Edo-era shipowners lives on. Naturally, the tour stops for lunch at Mebuki, where Ikehata demonstrates his culinary skills. Tour participants can also enjoy tasting and buying wine at Heidee Winery, which stands on a hill overlooking the Sea of Japan.

But the tour does not gloss over the area’s ordeal. From Kanazawa, the bus heads through the Noto Peninsula and all the way up to Wajima. As one journeys deeper along the peninsula, the scars of the earthquake catch one’s eye, including traces of landslides and buildings covered in blue tarpaulins. Noto is still in the midst of reconstruction.

“Rather than going to see the damage, we see the point of this tour as being to go and meet chef Ikehata and other locals who are working hard on recovery, so that they can tell the visitors about the current situation in Noto,” Takata explained. “Our target clients are those who will understand the feelings of the people of Noto. We’re hoping that our tours attract people who will learn about the current state of the peninsula and help to support the area.”

Above all, Takata is proud that “we’re contributing to the recovery effort, rather than seeing it as a problem for the Noto people alone to solve.” With its own hotel, bus company and travel agency, Kanazawa Adventures offers a comprehensive range of tourism services. Its parent company is the Takata Sangyo Group, a local business that manufactures and sells ready-mixed concrete as well as being involved in infrastructure development in the civil engineering and construction sectors. The group is also a contractor involved in work to repair the Noto Peninsula’s roads. As a company funded entirely by local capital, it is keen to be among the first to lend Noto a hand, Takata said. “As the human face of local industry, we have a part to play in spreading the word about the current situation on the peninsula, and telling people that Noto is open to tourism again.”

Reviving tourism swiftly will naturally lead to the prompt recovery of the entire Noto Peninsula. Ishikawa Prefecture’s official tourism website has a page with details on which parts of Noto are open to visitors, including a digital map of sightseeing spots that tourists can visit with peace of mind, as well as information about roads and accommodations. One solution amid this situation is this one-day bus tour from Kanazawa.

2024年9月、〈金沢アドベンチャーズ〉は金沢市発で能登を訪れるバスツアー企画を売り出した。同社代表、髙田恒平は、きっかけはジャパンタイムズ主催「Destination Restaurants 2022」受賞シェフ、池端隼也の要望だったと語る。当時、能登は観光ができる状況ではなかったが、被災地域に住む人たちの了承を池端が取り付けることで、ツアーが実現した。

決して楽しいだけのツアーではない。奥能登に進むにつれ、震災の生々しい傷跡が目につく。「このツアーは能登の現状を知って、応援してくださる方にご利用いただければと思っています」と髙田は言う。　〈金沢アドベンチャーズ〉は能登の道路の復旧工事なども請け負う地元企業、高田産業グループ傘下の会社でもある。純粋な地元資本の企業としても、真っ先に能登に手を差し伸べたい思いは強い。

被災地における観光の早期復活は、そのまま能登全体の早期復興にもつながる。そのひとつの答えがこの、金沢発の日帰りバスツアーなのだ。

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