Thursday, July 9, I caught the train to Tomaya, on the Japan Sea coast and at the edge of the northern Japan Alps. The train mostly followed river valleys through the mountains. I had often seen people fishing in the rivers, and finally got a picture of it.
I arrived in the afternoon, left my luggage at the hotel, and walked around. There's a nice little park and a castle in the middle of town.
At the tourist information center near the castle, they recommended the observation tower at the city hall nearby. I walked over and took the elevator up to the 70m high tower. Not extremely high, but enough to give good views of the city and the mountains.
While not really on the tourist map, Toyama struck me as a very nice, livable city. There's proximity to the mountains and ocean, and there seems to be a lot of park space and several art museums.
I went back to the hotel after getting something to eat, went to a nearby department store to pick a few things, and then just read in the hotel bar before calling it a night.
One of the things that a lot of tourists come to Toyama for is the start of the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route. This is a series of trains, cable cars, and busses that take you up into the mountains, particularly Mt Tateyama, over the Kurobe dam, and ending near Nagano. I think many people do the whole thing just for the views from the transportation, and have their luggage forwarded to their destination at the other end.
I was more interested in just getting up to the mountains and doing a bit of hiking. This meant getting the local train from Toyama to Tateyama station, the cable car to Bojodaira station, and the bus to Murodo near Mt Tateyama. I had read that you needed a reservation for the cable car, but I misread when you could make them. So when I reserved most spots were full and I could only get one for 12:40pm. After the hour long bus ride to the top, this didn't really leave any time for hiking, before the last bus going down left at 4pm.
I had read it might be possible to change the time of the reservation on the same day, so on Friday I got up early and was at the ticket window before it opened at 7:30am. I was able to get a cable car reservation for 9:40am, and I caught the next train for Tateyama station.
However, about 2 stops before Tateyama the train stopped, and the driver announced that there was rockfall on the track ahead and the train couldn't go, and that they were sending busses. The train was full but everyone took it stride as we waited about one and a half hours for the busses. We reached Tateyama and formed a long line for the cable car. By the time I got on it was about 11:40am, just an hour before my original reservation. Makes you wonder...
The cable car went up about a 25 degree slope.
The bus ride from Bijodaira station to Murodo went through spectacular scenery. There was an old cedar forest, and a view of the longest falls in Japan, Shomyo falls.
It then reaches the incredible Alpine plateau of Murodo, surrounded by mountains.
I got off at Murodo station with the view of Mt. Tateyama.
I had a couple of hours, so I started hiking quickly to see how far I could get. I made to Ichinokochi pass at 2700m, just before the final climb to the top.
Next I walked the trail to end of the plateau with a view of volcanic gas.
I did all that and made it back in time to catch the 3pm bus. I didn't want to count on catching the last bus at 4pm because they were often full.
I took the bus and cable car back, and by then the rockfall must have been cleared since there was no problem with the train back to Toyama. I went to the hotel and crashed.
Saturday I was up early since I'd been to bed so early. I caught the tram to another place the tourist information centre recommended: Iwasehama beach. I walked along the beach for a while, where many people were fishing.
There is also an old town at Iwase, but it was early and everything was closed. I took the tram back into town, and to a museum about Japanese Ink Painting. Its in a beautiful building on spacious grounds.
Unfortunately there were no current exhibitions, and only the two small rooms with permanent exhibitions were open. They were mostly about modern style ink painting. There was also a tea room in the back where you were served matcha.
I walked across the river to the centre of town and found a little craft beer place called A Corner Shop. It is owned and run by one young woman who was very friendly, and there as a good selection of beers, so I stayed and chatted for a while. She recommended a bar for sake that was called Uzumaki.
Toyoma is known for its seafood, so next I went to a restaurant and bar area near the castle and found a sushi place. Indeed the sushi was very fresh.
I then went to Uzumaki. It was indeed a very specialized bar for sake, and there must have been a hundred different kinds. I sat at the bar and talked with the people next to me, who were also very knowledgeable about sake. For example, the sake is specified not just by the brewery but also where the rice comes from. And, even for a given brand, the flavour of the sake depends on the particular rice harvest.
It was pretty fun chatting with the people there. I had a couple of glasses of sake, staggered back to the hotel and did laundry.
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