JAPAN - KANAZAWA

MAY 16-17

Our accommodation in Kanazawa was probably the most difficult to find in all of our trip but we have no complaints otherwise. We had worked out which bus to catch from the station and which stop to get off at before we left Australia. We just hadn’t planned on the place not having any name or identification out front. Fortunately John had printed out the booking details from Booking.com and it included a photograph of the front of the building. We stayed at Minshuku Gommatsu which is in the older geisha area of Kanazawa and it was in a little backstreet. However, once we found it we managed not to get lost again. Our digs consisted of two rooms, one with table and room for luggage etc and the smaller room for our two futon beds. We shared toilet and bathrooms but they were handy and spotlessly clean. Cost-wise we thought it was good value at around $85 Aus a night, especially as we were within walking distance of Kenrokuen Garden and Kanazawa Castle.

We wandered down the street that night and found a quirky little boutique brewery where we had some dinner. Early next morning we walked down to the entrance to the gardens, which are the major attraction in the city. They were once part of the outer perimeter of Kanazawa Castle and were opened to the public in 1874. These gardens were by far the most beautiful we visited in Japan. The following link has lots more information about the garden:  https://www.kanazawastation.com/kenrokuen-garden/. If you really want to make the most of the gardens, get there as early as possible. Things quickly become crowded and noisy once the tour groups arrive. Photo opportunities abound at the gardens.

This young couple chose the gardens for their wedding photos.

From the gardens we wandered across the road to Kanazawa Castle. Unfortunately, like many of the castles in Japan, the original Kanazawa Castle was burnt to the ground. However, one section has been re-constructed. From the outside it looks quite beautiful and a walk through the building gives those interested in traditional building methods an excellent insight into how these magnificent structures were built. Apart from that point of interest, we found Kanazawa Castle a bit underwhelming. Its history is interesting though. The following site gives you some great facts. https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/japanese-castles/kanazawa-castle

After visiting the castle we decided to take a walk across to the other side of the castle grounds to Omichi Markets where we found the usual array of seafood on offer. 

On our way to the markets we ran into some other tourists who were looking for the gardens and after a short chat they advised us that we should pay a visit to the “Ninja Temple” – otherwise known as Kanazawa Myouryuji. If you want to visit here you have to go in first and put your name down for the next tour. All of the tours are in Japanese but you are given a folder with English explanations and the temple itself is really interesting. The story of the temple and its monks is extraordinary and although not really a temple for ninjas, it contains all the intrigues and deceptions you would except from a ninja tale. Sorry photos weren’t allowed but to see more click here:  https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4205.html

From the temple we jumped on the loop bus which took us back to the 21^st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. As with most museums, some of the exhibits were free and some were not. We roamed around the grounds and went into the free exhibits. While some of the sights were interesting it had nothing on MONA in Hobart. If you have some time to kill, it’s ok. 

This exhibit was called foam - saw a similar one at MONA.

We spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around the geisha/samurai area near our accommodation, and bought some take-away for dinner and of course a bottle of red from the nearby 7-11. 

This young lady was getting a bike riding lesson in the 7-11 carpark - note the seat!

We heated our dinner up in the microwave in the communal kitchen at our digs and did some facebook time etc. After such a big day we needed no rocking to sleep as we had to be up early next morning to catch the train to Kyoto.

JAPAN - TATEYAMA KUROBE ALPINE ROUTE & KUROBE GORGE

TATEYAMA KUROBE ALPINE ROUTE

MAY 15

We were up bright and early in the morning to catch the train to Shinano Omachi station, the jump-off point to travel the Alpine Route over Mt Tateyama to Toyama where we had booked our accommodation for that night. The route generally opens between April and November, depending on weather conditions.

We dropped our bags off at the station at Omachi so that they could be delivered to Toyama station on the other side of the route. The cost was about 1500 yen per piece ($20Aus) so we just loaded up the big suitcase and one smaller one. It is money well spent as it would be impossible to drag bags over the route itself. You can do a round trip in a single day but we were going to take a trip from Toyama into Kurobe Gorge next day so it suited us to just go one way.

Once you have dropped off the luggage you can then line up to get your bus ticket just across the road for the trip up the mountain Ogizawa. Here we went to the next ticket office to buy our tickets for the Alpine Route. A one-way ticket costs about 9,500 yen or about $125Aus. The trip involves several different legs and several different modes of transport so the journey itself is as interesting as the scenery.

From Ogizawa, you take an electric bus through a 6 klm tunnel to Kurobe Dam which is the highest dam in Japan at 186 metres. At Kurobe Dam station you have a couple of options as to which way you go. First there is the 220 step climb up to the observation deck on top of the restaurant and souvenir shop. Alternately you can walk to one of the other observation decks or explore the monument to the 171 workers who lost their lives during construction. There is also a museum where you can watch a video about the dam and its construction but unfortunately it is all in Japanese. At the dam you are 1455m above sea level.

Once you have explored the Ogizawa side of the dam it is a 15 minute walk across the dam wall. If you want to take your time, you can then take a 30 minute cruise around the lake on Japan’s highest altitude cruise ship. Cost is around 1,080 yen ($15 Aus). There is also a walking track along the edge of the lake.  Otherwise you can continue to Kurobeko station to catch the underground cablecar, the next leg of the route, which takes about 5 minutes and ends at Kurobedaira.

The cablecar to Kurobedaira

Apparently there is a small botanic garden just outside the station at Kurobedaira but when we were there everything was covered with snow. There is a restaurant and souvenir shop here as well and the views of the surrounding mountains are stunning. From here it was onto the Tateyama ropeway which took us up a further 515 m to Daikanbo. This 1.7 kilometer long ropeway operates without any support towers between the lower and upper stations, making it Japan's longest one-span ropeway and takes about 7 minutes to cross the valley. The views were quite spectacular.

The Tateyama ropeway is really impressive
You can only just see the station on the other side.

The view back to the dam from Daikanbo observation deck.

This snow tunnel led to the outside garden at Daikanbo transfer station
but again there was too much snow to see any plants.

Murodo is the highest point on the Alpine Route at 2450 m and it is from here that the more adventurous and energetic travellers can climb up to the top of the surrounding mountains. We opted to take a walk around Mikurigaike Pond to one of the local hot spring onsens. There was quite a lot of snow still and the walk was interesting to say the least. We made it to the onsen without incident.

The view down to Hell Valley was interesting and thanks to John I got to see some of the iconic local birds, the rock ptarmigan. They were very quiet (I think the locals leave food out for them beside the paths). Unfortunately I ended up stepping into a deep snow drift and had one leg buried hip deep in snow. It was not a good feeling when I tried to get out and couldn’t. I had to lay back and push myself horizontally with the other leg to escape – and then I lost my shoe. Fortunately John rescued it for me.

Hell Valley is a thermal area which was definitely easy to spot.

Rock ptarmigan are a type of grouse and very well camouflaged for the snow.

There are other points of interest at Murodo. The nature conservation centre has information about the local flora and fauna and then there is the snow wall formed when the snow ploughs toss up the snow to keep the road open.

Mikurigaike Pond was mostly frozen over but we did catch a glimpse of a beautiful blue patch of water.

The snow wall is a big drawcard.

From Murodo, we caught the bus down to Bijodaira and then the cable car to Tateyama Station. If you travel later in the year there are some other walks at Midagahara and Bijodaira that sound like they would be really nice if the snow is not so thick. 

The road down to Bijodaira was quite twisty in places
 and a low fog added lots of atmosphere.

The last outstanding feature of the trip was Shomyo Falls,
the highest waterfall in Japan at 350 metres.

When we went through though there was just snow so we picked up our bags at Tateyama and jumped on the local train to Toyama. We had decided to stay in Toyama because it was a good point from which take the trip into Kurobe Gorge the following day. Our hotel, APA Villa Hotel, was just a short walk from the station and we managed to walk there quite easily despite the heavy bags. Cost per night was about $150 Aus.

KUROBE GORGE

MAY 16

Next morning we checked out and arranged to leave our bags there so that we could pick them up on our way back through in the afternoon. Then it was off to catch the Toyama Chiho Railway to Unazuki Onsen Station. It was a bit tricky working out where to get tickets at the Chiho end as the local line has no attendants or ticket machines at the From here you have to walk up the road to the Kurobe Gorge Railway Unazuki Station where you can buy your ticket for the Gorge train. There are a number of options regarding carriages etc. 

Scenic railway siding along the line to Unazuki Onsen.

We opted for the open carriage but if you do so make sure you have a jacket as it can get rather cool and if it rains you would need a raincoat as they are very open. At around $65 a head it is not a cheap trip and while the scenery is lovely, it is very slow and we were quite disappointed to discover that most of the walking paths at the top of the gorge were closed off for reasons unknown to us. 

There are a couple of shops etc and a hot spring for a foot spa at Keyakidaira but really it was a bit of a let-down. 

Scenes around Keyakidaira

Hot water from the springs runs into this tank then into the foot spa.
As always with hot springs the smell of sulphur was quite strong.

The trains run at about half-hour intervals all day and you can get off at locations along the route and go hiking as well. The train line was originally built to transport workers for the hydro scheme and they still use it today. There were some highlights such as the monkeys beside the track and some glimpses of specky bridges etc though. 

On our return to Toyama, we collected our bags from the hotel and jumped on the shinkansen to Kanazawa, which only took about half an hour.