Name: The Coolest Art Village In Japan You Haven't Heard Of (Yet)! 能登半島に来て大感動した件！
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T18:41:35.000Z
Duration: 10 min 13 s
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With a beautiful blend of seaside and mountainside scenery and art installations stretching all across the peninsula, this relatively unknown destination is only a one-hour flight from Tokyo.

You won't have to fight crowds of tourists to enjoy it.

Today, I'm taking you to Suzu on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture.

I'm currently in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Noto Peninsula in the city of Suzu for the Okunoto Arts Triennial Festival that's happening from September till November this year and features artists from all over the world and all over Japan.

This area is popular with art connoisseurs and especially the local Japanese.

However, it hasn't really been discovered by foreign tourists yet so I'm hoping that I'm going to get a good feel of the peninsula as we go and explore the art installations.

I'm at the Suzunari Michi no Eki road stop and I'm about to rent a bike and explore the island.

Let's go!  This is really the most perfect exploring weather.

Plus, it's helpful that the entire city, like the city area, is very flat so it's cyclable.

I'm just coming up on a blue sign right now.

The Okunoto Triennial Art Festival takes place every three years in Suzu with nearly 50 exhibitions happening simultaneously across the region during the event.

Artists from all over the world come to exhibit their work here, this year featuring artists from Brazil, Russia, China, Taiwan, Iran, the USA, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, India, and the UK with, of course, many artists from Japan showcasing as well.

The festival sets contemporary art installations against the backdrop of retro-style shopping streets, untouched nature, ocean views, rice terraces, and salt farms, effectively re-injecting life and vibrance into an otherwise aging town.

My favorite city-side exhibition was the Noramoji Project, an initiative that recreates fonts based on the logos of old shops.

You can go to their website and download these fonts to use for yourself.

For the duration of the festival, some exhibits will require tickets or a fee to enter, but the majority of the public structures are completely free to drop by and view.

Many of the outdoor exhibits will remain standing even after the festival has ended as permanent fixtures in the area for tourists to drop by and view any time of the year.

The seaside roads are perfect for a weekend drive and are very popular with cycling tourists as well, some people opting to cycle the entire peninsula over the course of a few days.

And if you're visiting the Noto Peninsula as a couple, make sure you stop by Mitsukejima.

Known as an enmusu beach, or a matchmaking beach, this is a place for couples to visit to solidify their relationship.

Make sure you ring the bell to seal the deal.

So I've been really excited for this part of the trip.

I've booked a really special accommodation here in the town of Suzu, and I can't wait to show you guys where it is.

So it is a proper temple as you can see behind me, but over here they've actually reformed this house to be a bed and breakfast facility, and they house a certain number of people every day.

They only take bookings through Suzunari-kan, where I got the bike, or through their website.

They don't list their experiences anywhere else, and it's an extremely at home and cozy place.

So let's take a look at what's going on inside, and I'll show you what it's like to stay here.

Although overnighting in a temple typically involves morning meditation, shoujin yori vegan meals, and other rigid rituals, Jokoji isn't like that at all.

If anything, it feels more like a homestay, or a bed and breakfast.

And in a small rural city like this one, it's nice to stay somewhere where you know you'll be well taken care of.

The home-cooked meals here were better than what I'd get in a hotel, that's for sure.

This place is so big, it's very easy to get lost.

Yesterday I got to explore the town a little bit.

Lots of older buildings, lots of rustic charm.

At the Okunoto International Art Festival, we're doing a performance called Shuzu Ohanashi Station.

We're going to make a story together with the people who came here.

It's about 20 stories that I made in the past.

There are a lot of different motifs, like fish, houses, and love stories.

Sato-san's live performance happens multiple times a day and is an interactive exhibit that transforms an abandoned train station into a bright and social space for storytelling.

And his isn't the only exhibit along the abandoned train tracks.

Fans of Haikyo, or ruins, will love exploring the surrounding train stations, which are now decorated with surreal displays that reward the intrepid explorer.

So one of the reasons that the Noto Peninsula is so remote and off the beaten path is because the train line that used to run up the entire peninsula is no longer operating.

So to get to the very tip of the region, you need to either have a car or take a bus, and it's very inconvenient if you're a tourist that has to rely on public transportation.

On the bright side, the lack of convenient public transportation simply means that you'll never have to fight crowds of tourists to come here.

And once you reach Suzu, there are rental bicycles and even an art bus that you can book during the festival that will take you to all the exhibits anyway.

There are actually four bus stations across the peninsula that have been designed by this artist.

This is one of them, but there are others.

It's true that this location may not be for everyone, but if you're like me and enjoy small towns connecting with locals, natural landscapes, people watching, and a nice balance of tradition and modern highlights, then maybe consider putting Suzu on your list.

It's actually started to rain, which is a little bit difficult for me because I have to ride the bike and I can't really hold a camera and an umbrella and all that.

I think I've seen quite a bit of the art in this region over the past two days, and I think this will be my last one.

We're at a place called Chisai Wasuremono Bijitsukan.

It's inhabiting the old Iida station, which is now no longer being used because there's no train that runs up here, so it's a completely empty station.

It's pretty eerie to see the outline of objects spray-painted on the walls.

I guess that's what art's all about, is when you see something and you feel something inside when it evokes that kind of spooky, eerie feeling.

I'm aware that I look silly with the helmet on, but because of the rain, I feel like it's easier than holding an umbrella.

So if it's keeping my hair dry, I can wear the helmet.

I think this is really fitting as my last exhibition here in Suzu because it's full of really encouraging words.

It's people's thoughts and their appreciation for the event, written in all these different languages.

I feel like after spending a few days in the city and exploring and talking to people and learning about the art scene, it's not a place that a lot of people will come to very often, but I think it's very unforgettable.

It's very, very lovely here, and you can tell that people really appreciate it.

All right, it's time to leave and go back to the airport.

I had a great time in Ishikawa, and I hope this isn't the last time I'm here.

I had a really particularly great stay here at Jokoji, and I hope that next time I come, I come with my family.