TOYAMA Trip

From 4th to 6th May, which was Golden Week in Japan, I went to Toyama with my husband. The biggest purpose of this trip was to meet an old friend of my husband, who gave us many flowers at our wedding party. He is a horticultural farmer and cultivates flowers for appreciation. I planned this trip because I wanted to say thanks to him. This was my first time to visit Toyama prefecture, and also, this was about 5 years since my husband last met him.

Tateyama mountain range

Toyama is located in north central Japan and it takes about 4 hours by train to reach from Tokyo. Toyama faces the Sea of Japan and has the Tateyama mountain range in an inland area, which is one of the three great mountains in Japan.

It was lunchtime when we arrived at Toyama St. and we enjoyed having the local foods at a restaurant. Especially, I enjoyed having a trout sushi, which is a specialty of Toyama. After that, we were walking around Toyama City and we went to a place to take a river cruise.

The local foods of Toyama

Matsukawa River cruise:

Matsukawa River

I didn't know about Toyama City, but the boatman talked about the history of Toyama and explained the origin of seven bridges which span the river. Matsukawa River is a narrow river now, but during the Edo period, it was big and it was used for a trade route. The story that surprised me is that Toyama had Toyama air raids during World War II and Toyama City had been destroyed by fire in the war. After the war, the government of Toyama rebuilt the city and now it has become the current Toyama.

A white heron vs a crow

At night, we met him at a Japanese-style Izakaya restaurant. Toyama faces the Sea of Japan, so they can get a lot of fresh seafood, and especially, firefly squids and Japanese glass shrimps are specialty products of Toyama. We enjoyed the food and we had a good time with him. I achieved the biggest purpose of this trip.

Yuki-no-Otani on the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route:

The next day, we moved to the Tateyama mountain range by train. There are towering snow walls along the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route. Murodo is famous for a point where we can walk around the snow walls and its altitude is 2,450m. In spite of spring, it still had a lot of snow. I was looking forward to seeing the beautiful scenery on a sunny day, but I couldn't, because it was snowing outside all day. It was very cold as if it was winter. Therefore, we went on our way back soon once we arrived at Murodo and walked around the snow walls a little bit.

At Murodo

Unazuki-onsen:

After visiting the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route, we moved to Unazuki-onsen. It took 2 hours by train and it was a long trip. When we arrived at Unazuki-onsen St., it was raining. Luckily, the hotel bus picked us up and we could move to the hotel without getting wet in the rain. We enjoyed taking the onsen. 

The next day, it was a sunny day and the mountains were shining. We joined in a walking tour in the early morning and I felt that the contrast of lakes and mountains was very beautiful. There is a famous trolley train running along the Kurobe Valley. We couldn’t take the train, because we didn't have enough time, but we watched it from the riverside. It was our last day in Toyama. I had already reserved a train which was going to come at noon, and until the train back to Tokyo came, we enjoyed the free-footbath near the train station.

Unazuki Lake

A trolley train

It was 3 days when I was able to fully enjoy nature and get refreshed.