With a three day weekend looming, we decided to go on a Hokuriku Road Trip and push ourselves to the limit. I can say with a high degree of confidence that we did just that. Our road trip would take us to the Hokuriku region of Japan. Our main goal was to meet with some of our friends from college in Fukui city. Along the way we would stop off at Toyama city and after meeting our friends we would stop by Kanazawa city on the way back.

We wanted to maximize our time, so we decided to leave at 3:00 in the morning. We packed a little the night before, but forgot some things. In the morning, we did some last minute packing and were out the door by 3:15. We headed south and got on the E50 ETC (toll road) at the Mito-minami IC entrance. It was still dark, so we utilized our bright lights frequently as there were no street lights on the express way. We made good time as there were very few vehicles on the road.

We made a brief stop at Yokokawa SA (service area) in Gunma Prefecture. It was one of the largest ETC service area stations we’ve seen so far. They had an impressive amount of facilities. It was light by this time and the drive was a lot more comfortable.

We powered through and were able to make it to Toyama city just before 9:00. We parked in a NPC parking structure that was the center point for our morning activities. Afterwards, we headed across the street to the Toyama Citizens Plaza. We picked up a manhole card that was in a tucked away office on the first floor. We then headed north to the Toyama Castle Ruin Park.

Toyama Castle Ruin Park

It was a little early and pretty hot and humid, but we were surprised to see we were one of the only ones in the castle park. We made our way around the park and snapped some pictures along the way. We stopped for a bit and admired the beautiful Japanese style garden. Afterwards, we headed towards the Toyama City Tourist Information Center where picked up another manhole card, a Toyama Castle Stamp, and some more information about the area.

Toyama City Hall Observation Deck

We then headed across the river and street to Toyama City Hall. They had a free observation tower that we wanted to go to. The building itself was closed during the weekends, but there was a side entrance with a sign. We took the elevator to the top floor. The observation tower provided 360 degree views of the city and surrounding mountain ranges. We really liked the overlays that labeled what the major sights were in the distance. We can imagine that the mountains look absolutely beautiful in the winter. They also had a stamp at the top to validate parking.

Toyama Kirari Building

We took the elevator back down and made our way to the Toyama Kirari Building. It was a short 12 minute walk. Inside the Toyama Kirari Building was the Toyama Glass Museum. We went to the reception area and paid the ¥200 entrance fee. We made our way up the many escalators. The architecture of the building was pretty cool. There was a hallowed out area of the central courtyard that allowed us to see all the way to the top. Other tenants of the building included a multi-floor public library, a café, and a couple other shops.

Toyama Glass Museum

We weren’t able to take any pictures of the flower exhibit, but it was pretty impressive to see the shapes and colors that the artists were able to produce. One exhibit in particular was of flower petals that looked so life like and delicate. Another one was of an exotic tropical flower that had a very unique texture applied to it. We then made our way to the top floor that housed the permeant Dale Chihuly exhibit. This exhibit was absolutely amazing. It was incredible to see how the artist was able to manipulate the glass into such intricate shapes. The colors were so vibrant and the spot lights highlighted them so well against the black backdrop. Definitely, one of the coolest exhibits we saw in Toyama.

Just by the entrance of the building was this super cool contraption made entirely of wood. It was a conveyer belt that took a small wooden ball through a series of obstacles. It was pretty neat to watch it from start to finish. We picked up another manhole card at the reception area before heading back to the car. Along the way, we travelled along a covered shopping street. We were a tad short on time and already had lunch plans, but there were a number of cute cafes and shops that we’d like to check out the next time we come.

Shiroebi-tei

We got to the car and made our way north to Toyama Station. We parked at a Times parking structure directly to the southwest of the station. The parking structure was attached to the MAROOT shopping mall. We made our way to the Toyama Stations main building. We looked around for a bit and finally found Shiroebi-tei in a large shopping area. The line was super long, so we ended up getting take out and eating in the car.

Masuzushi

After lunch, we headed back to the shopping area. Toyama was known for their masuzushi, so we knew that we wanted to try some. It was kind of like a sushi pie. A layer of rice was topped with a thin layer of pickled trout. It was then wrapped in bamboo leaves and firmly packaged into a round wooden box. One concern we had was that the masuzushi was only sold as a whole. We weren’t sure if we were going to like it or not.

Luckily, we found a shop that sold small sample size versions of the masuzushi. They also had a good selection of other varieties to choose from. We picked up a couple before heading back to the car. On our way out we stopped off at Deco Home which was an affiliate of Nitori and picked up an extreme cooling bed sheet cover and some cooling pillow cases. We made sure to bring our parking ticket and were able to get it completely validated.

Next, we made three uneventful stops along the way to our next major stop. We stopped at the Toyama Jiyukan a hotel just north of the Toyama Station, Canal Hall which was a community center on the coast, and Kureon a restaurant next to the Toyama performing arts center. At each of these locations we stopped for the briefest amount of time and picked up a new manhole card at each.

Roadside Station Come On Park Shinminato

We finally made our way to Roadside Station Come On Park Shinminato. We stopped to take a quick break and shared some of their delicious black ramen before heading out.

Our original plan was to stay at the roadside station for the night. There was plenty of parking and a large public bath was only a three minute walk away. There were a variety of factors that contributed to use deciding to move on. It was our first night in the car, the weather was overcast, rainy, and a little dreary, things were beginning to close up, the restroom facilities were a bit dated, and the location was a little isolated. It being our first night in the car, we didn’t feel 100% comfortable staying here. Fortunately, it was still pretty early, so we decided to push on.

Kaga Katayamazu City Spa

We decided to go to for Amagozen SA Southbound which was a service area along the toll road. It was over two hours away, but would set us up nicely for the following day. Along the way we searched for a public bathhouse in the area on Google Maps. We stumbled upon Kaga Katayamazu City Spa which was located in the small onsen village of Katayamazu. Our only gripe was that there was no soap available. So, we had to stop off at the drug store and pick up a bottle of shampoo and some bar soap.

The spa building looked fairly new. There was a large amount of parking and it felt like cars were constantly coming and going. The reception area featured a vending machine where we purchased two adult tickets. We handed the receptionist our tickets and went our separate ways. I can best describe this place as just a bath house. That’s it. There were pretty close to no other amenities outside of the standard bathing facilities. The changing room was pretty standard with keyed lockers. The walk to the bathing area was a little obstructed thanks to dim interior lighting. The highlight of the bath was the floor to ceiling windows that gave us a fantastic view of Lake Shibayama.

In the future we’d like to come back to Katayamazu onsen and explore the area a little more. The lake view at sunset was beautiful.

After a refreshing bath, we headed out to Amagozen SA Southbound. We stopped off at a 7-11 to pick up some drinks and snacks. After, we entered the ETC at Katayamazu IC and went one stop to the south. We got settled in and called it a night.

Final Thoughts

Wow, what a day. Combined, we drove for over 8.5 hours. We were pretty exhausted, but since we had pushed ourselves to go further on Day #1, it would make subsequent days of our Hokuriku Road Trip easier. The highlight of the day for us was the Toyama Glass Art Museum. The permeant Dale Chihuly exhibit was absolutely amazing. The regional food was delicious as well. We were glad we got to try the Shiro-ebi, Toyama Black Ramen, and masuzushi which all had their own unique flavors. Another goal of this trip was to see if we wanted to visit any of these cities again. Toyama city was nice to go to once. We’re not sure it will make the list of cities that we want to further explore.

More to Come…

*Click Here for Day #2 of our Hokuriku Road Trip