We stopped by Roadside Station Come On Park Shinminato in Toyama Prefecture after a half day of exploring Toyama city. The roadside station was conveniently located along National Route 8 which was a main artery that ran from the northeast in Niigata Prefecture to the southwest in Kyoto Prefecture. It also passed through the major cities of Niigata, Toyama, Kanazawa, and Fukui among many others. The portions of our trip not spent on the ETC expressway would likely be spent on this route.

The roadside station was known for their white shrimp and they leaned on this fact pretty hard. Their mascot was a cute white shrimp. Inside the main building they had a number of large fish tanks. We got to see the white shrimp and a variety of other fish from the surrounding area up close. We knew that the white shrimp were small, but these ones looked so small and frail. It made us appreciate even more the labor it must have taken to deshell the raw white shrimp at Shiroebi-tei.

Roadside Station Come on Park Shinminato Local Products Store

We went into the main part of the building which housed the souvenir and local products store. The souvenir section was quite robust. We picked up some white shrimp crackers and some special sweet potato flavored Pocky. While checking out, we asked the clerk about the manhole card and she kindly gave us a pair.

Roadside Station Come on Park Shinminato Food Court

After picking up the omiyage and manhole cards, we made our way to the dining area. There were two options available. Shinminato Shokudo (新湊食堂) was a quick service food court, while Restaurant Come on Park Shinminato (レストラン カモンパーク新湊) was a more traditional sit down type restaurant. We decided to go with Shinminato Shokudo. The menu had a good variety of udon, soba, ramen, and rice bowl options. Our main goal was to try Toyama’s famous black ramen.

The ramen was good. It was a little on the salty side in our opinion. Any saltier and it would have been a strain to eat. The noodles were firm and the meat was nice and tender. Everything was just kind of average in our opinion. This was to be expected as roadside stations tend to serve a basic form of foods while specialty shops add their own unique flair to these popular dishes.

The bathrooms were clean for the most part, but were a little dated.

Note: Behind the roadside station there was a covered walkway that led to Imizu City Shinminato Museum. We didn’t have time to check it out, but it looked like they had some interesting exhibits about the local area.

Final Thoughts

The facilities were a little dated, however the store had a robust selection of omiyage and the restaurant had a good variety of options. If your looking for a place to stop and rest along National Route 8, then Roadside Station Come On Park Shinminato in Toyama Prefecture should be on your list.

Here is the link to their website.

More to Come…