Uchinada Sand Dunes

This sand dunes extend from Awagasaki-machi, Kanazawa City northward to Unoke, Kahoku City. About one kilometer wide, they run along the Japan Sea Coast, a succession of transverse dunes about 20 meters high. Uchinada Town has become a bedroom community for Kanazawa, but the region was formerly used as a firing range by the U. S. military. It is also known for the disputes that local residents opposed to the firing range and their supporters had with the police. Nowadays, it has become a place for marine sports and surf casting, and it attracts crowds of visitors in the summer. Parts of the sand dunes are used for farm fields and rice paddies, and Unoke is famous for throughout Japan for its unique Prefectural Sand Dune Agriculture Experiment Station.