Japan 2016 Day 9: Embarking on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
About time to add another post to my 18 Days Graduation Trip to Japan category - Day 9/18!
Day 9 - 28 May 2016, Saturday
Overall itinerary of our ninth day
0640 - 0700 : Takaoka Manten >> Takaoka (Toyama) Station >> Toyama Station
0720 - 0824 : Toyama Station (Toyama Chiho Railway Tateyama Line) >> Tateyama Station
0900 - 1540 : Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (Tateyama >> Bijodaira >> Midagahara >> Murodo >> Daikanbo >> Kurobedaira >> Kurobeko)
1600 - 1830 : Return to Tateyama Station >> Toyama Station
1830 - 1930 : Dinner at Shiroebitei (白えび亭)
1930 onwards : Toyama Station >> Takaoka (Toyama) Station >> Takaoka Manten Hotel Ekimae
Day 9 of our trip is reserved for the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route known as the "Roof of Japan". Exploring the route through a combinations of bus, trolley bus, cable car and ropeway amongst others, we managed to enjoy the varied scenery of Mt. Tateyama in the Japan Alps.
To get to Tateyama Station from Toyama Station, it took us approximately an hour. That means that we woke up at 4am to have our breakfast and to make our way to catch the train to Tateyama. The silver train on the right of the photo below... is the gateway to our destination!
The ticket costs 1,200yen from Toyama station to Tateyama Station!
Well, before bombarding your screen with a string of photographs, let me share with you some tips on getting your tickets for the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route.
Being such a beautiful place, it is definitely a popular place not only for tourists but locals as well. That's why tickets reservations are important! On top of that, Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is not opened to visitors all year round - it is usually opened for visits from April to November while remaining closed for the rest of the year (winter season).
To make sure you do not miss out for this attraction during your trip, you could do online reservation here. Basically, you have to submit your email address and then you will receive an email to start your tickets reservation. You can pick the route you want to take and price differs accordingly. Most people chose to take the Tateyama Station to Ogizawa route (One-way, 8,290yen for 1 adult) and you could get your luggages transported by relevant service providers so you do not need to drag your luggages with you everywhere (it's probably damn difficult too!). For us, we chose to do a Round-trip from Tateyama Station to Kurobeko and then back (10,790yen for 1 adult).
Yes, the tickets are expensive but I would say, they are well worth it!
If you reserved your tickets online, you can head down to the ticket collection counter reserved for online reservations - show the exclusive reference code / scan the QR code sent to your email (there was no queue at all for us, while long, long queue for people buying the tickets there) and you are all ready for this awesome adventure! Be sure to pick up a copy of the time table for all the transportation!
As we were in the line for the Tateyama Cable Car (photo of the cable car will be shown later on the way back) which will bring you from Tateyama Station to Bijodaira, we found this TV screen with the temperatures being reported for various locations along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. As we visited in June, the temperatures were slightly higher as compared to April, the lowest being 11.2 degree celsius at the highest point, Murodo.
After a short 7 minutes ride on the Tateyama Cable Car, we arrived at Bijodaira known for the huge Beautiful Woman Cedar (tree) and the Bijodaira Virgin Forest. Most people on the same cable car as us did not stop here to explore this spot, so we thought we would skip it as well since we do not have much time on hand. If you are spending the night on Tateyama itself, I would say go ahead please!
Next, we waited for a short while to take the Tateyama Highland Bus which would bring you through Midagahara to Murodo (the star attraction!).
On the Tateyama Highland Bus, please do not think about taking a nap although the ride is about 50min long because you would miss out on all the views of the forests, highlands and mountain range. I would also recommend you to sit on the left side of the bus, that is where all the pretty views are! Enough of me talking, see for yourself what an amazing place it is~
The views were certainly breathtaking. We kept our droopy eyes peeled wide opened throughout the whole ride. It started off with the greenery, then bits of snow here and there, followed by mountains covered entirely in snow and then, there are clouds? Almost wondered if we could touch them.
Off the bus, there is the customary photo one should take to somehow show that you have been to the highest point on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, Murodo at 2,500m. Just a quick fact, Murodo Station is the highest altitude station in Japan!
One of the highlights at Murodo is the "Yuki-no-otani" snow wall which is formed by the accumulation of snow from the heavy snowfalls Tateyama experience. Apparently, if you visit in the year where there is super heavy snowfall, the snow wall can go up to 20m high (about 10 floors high building). Usually, it averages around 7m high. When we visited, the snow has melted, so we only saw a shorter snow wall (I think it is about 3m+ high). Nonetheless, it is the first snow wall I have ever seen in my life.
Beside the snow walls, we took a stroll around the area and the snow structures are beautiful everywhere.
Oh, there is even snow wall "cave"! I wonder if someone deliberately carved a hole in it?
I believed we spent about close to an hour here just playing with snow and taking loads of photos. We moved on to the next site, Daikanbo by taking the Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus, which is also the highest altitude trolley bus in Japan. It is called the Tunnel Trolley Bus as the bus passes through a tunnel in Mt. Tateyama. This bus is pretty special too since it runs on electricity (so "green"). If you make a stop at Daikanbo, you can pay a visit to the observation deck to see the Japan Alps, lake formed by the Kurobe Dam and other mountains.
At Daikanbo station, we took the Tateyama Ropeway to Kurobedaira. This is the longest unsupported ropeway in Japan where you get a 360 view of the nature.
To get to our final stop - Kurobe Dam, we hopped onto another Kurobe Cable Car which travels underground. Again, this is the only one in Japan too!
As the tallest dam in Japan, Kurobe Dam is just... GIGANTIC. The dam holds a large amount of water and it apparently generates one billion kWh each year...wow.
The winds were really strong here, my hair flew around like no one's business. Looking down from here (above photo), you will see how deep it really goes (below).
At Kurobe Dam, our aim is to reach the Dam Observation Deck to get a great view of the water discharge which requires us to climb a total of 220 stairs. That left us panting all the way up. To be honest, I felt really fit throughout the entire Japan trip with so much climbing and walking.
Yes, that is the stairs we climbed. Looks a little scary from here since the stairs are attached to the side of the dam. Well, just climb it!
Legs aching by the time we reached the top, we were awed by the view here. We spent some time taking a break here while taking photo of the surroundings.
We managed to sneak a peek of the snow alps from here as well.
Before we head back on the long journey to Tateyama station, here is an raspberry soft serve!
And a final view of the dam from the bottom.
Taking almost 2 hours of rides, we arrived back at Toyama Station. It was time for dinner at Shiroebitei (白えび亭). Shiroebitei is located at the shopping mall next to Toyama Station on the 1st floor.
Why eat at Shiroebitei? Toyama is famous for its white shrimps, and Shiroebitei is one restaurant known for it. To order a serving for yourself, simply drop in the specified amount for your chosen meal into the machine and take a seat.
There are quite a number of dishes available and since we do not understand Japanese, we ordered by looking at the pictures. I remembered going for no. 1 which is White prawns (Shiro ebi) - 白えび天丼 at 1,260 yen.
As we waited for our meals, we watched the chefs prepared them and just observing what other patrons were having at the same time. Turns out, most people are having what we ordered and the lady seated next to us have a bottle of sake to go along with her food as well.
Our food came and I just thought: That is a lot of shrimps! This set comes along with some fried vegetables as well. I dare say, this is the best tempura I have ever had! Whatever I had in Singapore could never compare with this. The white shrimps by themselves, are pretty plain but crispy. Dip them into soy sauce, and enjoy them well!
A close up of the white shrimp:
A totally satisfying meal, and we spotted a "summit of white shrimps" outside the shop.
We ended our day early since we needed to catch an early Shinkansen to Tokyo the next day, and we woke up really early today too. So till next post again!;)
