Exploring Toyama during Winter Vacation

During my regular winter vacation at the end of 2024, I traveled to Toyama Prefecture for some sightseeing and relaxation. It was the 33^rd prefecture I have visited in Japan, and that was the main reason I chose to visit the area, as it isn’t known as a major tourist attraction. On a sidenote, I might make it an unofficial New Year’s resolution to visit Fukushima Prefecture on a regular weekend in 2025, because it’s the only one that’s relatively close to Kanto that I haven’t yet visited.

Getting back to the topic at hand, this trip was also the first time I had used the Hokuriku bullet train. I visited Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture eleven years ago, but I was living in Nara at the time, so the mode of transportation on that trip was a bus from Osaka.

Unlike its busier counterpart, the Tokaido bullet train, I was able to get a seat in the non-reserved car of the Hokuriku bullet train by being among the first in line, even though the car ended up being equally as crowded as the Tokaido bullet train. The train that I used took close to three hours to reach Toyama, but it was a relatively smooth journey.

I stayed at a popular business hotel chain, APA Hotel. The hotel name suggested that it was directly in front of Toyama Station, but although it was close by, this wasn’t exactly true. To get there, you had to walk under an overpass, then cross over to the other side of the road. However, the location was pretty convenient. The layout of the hotel room was very similar to a hotel I stayed at in Niigata two years ago, and it’s always nice to be able to watch Netflix on a large screen. The nicest benefit of this hotel was that it had a hot spring facility on the second floor, which I used on my second and third nights there.

Turning now to my experience of sightseeing in Toyama City, it’s fair to say that it’s a compact-sized city, and I was able to visit all of the major attractions in a single afternoon. A caveat is that some attractions were closed during the New Year's period, for example, the observation deck of the government building, and the Glass Museum. Furthermore, even restaurants such as ramen shops were closed during the period of my visit, so I was unable to try “Toyama black” ramen, whose color comes from the squid ink used in the broth. In lieu of being able to visit these places, the definite highlight was Kansui Park, which contains a Starbucks store that is said to be the most beautiful one in the world, and a bridge with two small observation towers. From these towers, one can enjoy stunning views of the Japanese Alps on a clear day.

Overall, Toyama is suitable for a short trip over winter vacation, and a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and Yokohama.

Ming