A day in Toyama, Japan

Toyama is the capital of the Prefecture of the same name. He gave us to visit this city on our last trip to Japan because it was included in our train pass, and allowed us to get to know the Shinkasen. Being in Kanazawa, you can take this train, and in about 25 minutes you reach Toyama.

There are several reasons why to visit this city for at least one day, even more days, and use it as a base to visit other interesting places. We unfortunately didn’t have more time to explore.

How to go to Toyama?

If you are in Kanazawa, you can take the Shinkansen. If you have the JR Central Pass that let you arrive to Kanazawa, this train is included in this pass. You don’t have to pay any extra if you take the wagons without reservation. You have to take the Hokuriku-Shinkansen, attention because there are several type/name of Shinkansen.

If you are somewhere else with shinkansen connections, you will surely be able to take the train and be in a short time. You can use, of course, use the general National Pass train for getting Toyama.

The best is go from Kanazawa if you are already there and make a visit in a couple of days. If you have enough time.

shinkansen viajar a japon - trip to japan

Toyama Station

Toyama has like many cities in Japan a great train station, with all services, and in excellent conditions. From the station you can take the tram that goes through the city, or the buses or taxis that will be available just to leave.

If you are more adventurous, you can do like us, go out and just walk and walk. Many points of interest are located near the station, we for example did everything on foot.

Within the station and close to the station there are many options to eat.

What to do in Toyama?

See Toyama Castle: of course if you’ve seen Kanazawa’s Castle or Osaka’s, this one will look tiny, but it’s always a Japanese castle with its charms, and the park where it’s located even though it’s also small, it’s very nice.
Visit Ikeda Yasubei Shoten: it is a traditional medicine shop in the center of Toyama. With a little patience you can even make a remedy prescribe. Upstairs there is a tea room, where you can drink medicinal tea. We didn’t try it. The shop is nice and curious and the people very friendly.
Fugan Unga Kansui Park: A modern park, which should have a good view at night, but by day it is not that it has much charm. It has an artificial lake that makes the place calm and pleasant, ideal for pausing while you are walking through the city.
Apparently it is ideal to go to watch the sunset.
Eat fish and seafood: this city is known for its variety and quality of marine products. The truth is that for little money you can eat excellent combined dishes of sashimi, seafood. Even without going far, there are several restaurants near the train station.
The Glass Museum: we couldn’t visit it because we hadn’t enough time, but it seems to be very interesting. we saw only the building which is quite representative of the exhibits. This city is know by its stained glass. You will see some representation just walking around, on bridges of the city.
Walk, walk: we have always said that the best way to know a place is walking aimlessly, go head into any streets and just watch what you find, in Japan this always will be surprising.