Sunyanagitei Kurobe

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.

... my son would love to eat elephant shaped kamaboko, although I don't think he would finish it all.

"It is said that KAMABOKO, a Japanese kneaded fish product, has peculiar origins. It has been a part of the national diet since the Jingu period (4th century) when the empress first tasted it during her travels. It was prepared by her serving men who kneaded the fish, placed it on the tip of a spear ...

Furudo is just the outskirts of Toyama City. There is a dam for agricultural purpose. Although there were no people (no tourists) present when we were there, I thought the dam could be a nice sightseeing spot. Since there is a bath house there, I hope people find this place to have a relaxing time.

There is an astronomical observatory near the dam.
I'm not a big fun of stars.. Maybe that's not it. To be ...

... Although I'm not a dam mania, I quite enjoyed to see water coming out from the mouth of the dam.

About 10 min drive from the dam, there is a big store that sells local products. The store is called "Hietsu Fureai Bussan Center". One of the main local products they promote was "Rakkyo (scallion)". Rakkyo is well-known food in Japan, but we normally eat ...

Medicine making in Toyama has a history of over 300 years. Medicine peddlers who delivered medicine door to door all over Japan are famous. They introduced a unique marketing system of "use first, pay later". Those medicine peddlers are still in business today.



Ikedaya-Yasube Shoten is located in the city ...

... There is a very famous curator who courteously explains anything about the town of Iwase! He just goes on if there is no one to stop him... Fortunately(?) when we were there a female staff (his wife??) came out to ask him to stop!





There are many ...

The Street of Iwase (Omachi-Niikawamachi Avenue)

There still remain antique buildings on the street of Iwase. There are unique craftsman & artists living in this ancient feeling town. Grasswork artists, musicians, local sake-makers, a soba cook, ceramic artists and many others. I was told that we can even look inside pf sake breweries in winter time. Too bad that they don't usually make sake during the summer ...