Shoeikaku Tonami

It's almost impossible to guess how nice & luxurious the inside of the hotel was just by looking at the exterior of Garaku. A huge glass window reflects a flow of Zinzu river. I had thought that Zinzu river is just an ordinary river which is not so much worth watching. I was quite surprised to see how nice the river looks through the glass window there! I was quite impressed by the ...

Soba restaurant "Takano" that stands on the half way of the two main streets of Yatsuo, I heard, is famous among soba manias. Soba plant is cultivated by Yatsuo farmers, so there are many soba restaurant that serve locally made soba noodles.



You cannot leave Yatsuo without having soba!!

... the sunlight.



Several new houses seem to have been built, but they seem to maintain the traditional architectural style. They must have been designed to retain antique feelings.

Stone-walling streets of Yatsuo is a sight to see!! As houses are built high up on those stone walls, they almost look like a castellated walls. Those houses create unique view.

Kamaboko is one of the specialties in Toyama. It used to be a must for festive occasions such as weddings and betrothals. FIsh shaped kamaboko is the most popular one. Kamaboko is made from fish meat. Fish meat is kneaded and shaped into a fish shape, which I think is quite ironic...

We visited "Kamaboko Museum" annexed to Umekama kamaboko factory. A president of the company came to see us and the ...

... I have never paid attention to astronomy before. The attendant there was very hospitable and he explained many things about astronomy. By listening to him, little by little I got interested in astronomy especially in stars.

The cozy planetarium facility is good for families with small kids. If no other visitors there, you can have a private time with your family! They don't have a chair for you to sit in, so ...

... be a great sightseeing spots that Toyama City can be proud of. The falls are not specutaclar in neither size nor amount of water, but it was a kind of place where you can get away from a hustle of a city. The temperature there was probably 10 degrees lower, and I felt like I wanted to stay there all day as the day we visited there was a very very hot day.

... of Toyama. The store used to be a manifacturer of Hangontan which is a traditional medicine of Toyama. It is said to be one of the first medicine to be produced and sold in Toyama.


When I entered the store, I could sense a bitter-tasting smell of medicine right away. The store looked pretty new, probably renovated ...

... artcrafts displayed inside the house. Every archiectural piece that used to build this house is extremely lavish, the curator explains. For example, they used immense monolith that were brought from Shodo Island for stepping of their entrance.

... should have taken a picture, but there is a very cool traditional Japanese style restaurant called "Shogetu" at the mouth of this street. They serve mainly shiroebi, a kind of white shrimp that is only caught in Toyama bay!! Shiroebi is slightly pink in colour but almost transparent, and because of its mysterious colour it is sometimes called "jewery of Toyama Bay". You must taste shiroebi once in your life time! It's so ...