Located half-way between Kanazawa and Komatsu, the district of Nomi-gun includes four towns, Tatsunokuchi, Terai, Neagari and Kawakita. Come 2005, however, the three biggest towns will amalgamate and become a city, leaving the 5000 residents of Kawakita alone on their side of the Tedori River!

Nomi-gun has the laid-back lifestyle of the Japanese inaka. Foreigners are few and far between, so JETs here get more than their fair share of fame, finger-pointing and free dinners.

Neagari is the hometown of Mr Mori, an ex-prime minister and Hideki Matsui, the baseball player recently recruited by the NY Yankees. It is the only Nomi-gun town with a coast-line and even has some surfing spots. Terai boasts the famous Kutani-yaki pottery and those with a creative bent can take classes there. Tatsunokuchi has the Ishikawa Zoo, and they even have kangaroos for any homesick Australians to look at (and emus as well, I think.) Kawakita’s claim to fame is it’s annual fireworks festival in summer, and a very cheap onsen. (For pictures of the fireworks, go to www.town.kawakita.ishikawa.jp and follow the links to the English page)

Further inland from Nomi-gun is Tsurugi, where the land becomes more mountainous. It is a great spot for cycling and if you explore a bit you can find some dirt tracks for mountain biking. Some ski-lifts (eg Sena Kougen) are open in summer for hard-core mountain bikers to tear down the slopes. There are also some great hikes, as long as you don’t mind the uphills!

If you are musically inclined and feeling fit, Ishikawa Taiko Association (���������A��) runs classes in Matto at Asano Taiko (��������) Beginner's classes usually run for 3 months on a Thursday night and end in a “Graduation concert”. The association's website is http://w2223.nsk.ne.jp/ishikawa-taiko/ (sorry, only in Japanese)