I'm sitting at a bar wearing a dressing gown, listening to a lime green-clad Mexican band singing La Bamba. I'm surrounded by dozens of similarly dressed Japanese, most of whom are smiling and clapping along as if this is a perfectly normal way to spend a Friday night.
It sounds like the sort of bizarre dream brought on by too much cheese before bed. What's stranger still is I'm nowhere near Mexico and despite La Bamba being one of my least favourite songs, I'm smiling and clapping along, too.
From the minute you arrive at Kagaya Hotel on the eastern side of Japan's Noto Peninsula, it's clear this is not your run-of-the-mill traditional Japanese inn, or ryokan. As our bus pulls up outside, seven staff dressed in wooden slippers and matching blue-and-white kimonos scamper outside to form a welcoming line that extends to the hotel's front door.
I'm shown to my room by a maid and here, at least, things start to feel a bit more familiar. The rooms are decorated in traditional Japanese style with tatami-mat floors and sliding screen doors. The main living area is sparsely furnished with a table, a low-backed chair, one painting and a vase, while the dressing room next door is empty except for a mirror that has been covered with a velvet throw.
After showing me around my room, Rina, my ever-smiling maid, produces a cup of green tea. Her English is excellent, which is just as well because it takes a fair bit of tuition before I grasp how to wear and secure the dressing gown-like yukata and slippers guests are encouraged to wear.
