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Plan your trip using the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line

"Amazing, it only takes two and a half hours by train." The businessman who often comes to Tokyo from Ishikawa prefecture looked impressed because it used to take more than four hours before the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line. Indeed, this new bullet train line brings the advantage for business people who appreciate time-saving, and also for tourists wanting to trip around the Hokuriku Region and the North Alps area.

The Nagano Shinkansen Line extended, and the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line opened

In 1998, the Winter Olympics was hosted by Nagano prefecture in Japan, and it was when the Nagano Shinkansen Line started bullet train services between Tokyo and Nagano Station. Now the train line has extended to Kanazawa Station in Ishikawa prefecture as a new route “the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line”, made its debut in March 2015, allows direct travel from Tokyo to the Hokuriku region.

The Hokuriku is a region that includes Ishikawa, Toyama, and Fukui prefectures (sometimes Niigata is included), noted as the home of some high-tech manufacturing companies in Japan. In fact, the cities in the Hokuriku region, especially the historic city of  Kanazawa, a famous tourist spot as popular as Kyoto, were developed since the ruling family encouraged industrial arts and technologies more than several hundred years ago, the spirit has been handed down to this day.


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Advantages for tourists and hikers

The biggest advantage of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line is the shortening of travel time between Tokyo and Kanazawa, the famous travel destination in Japan. However, it is also notable that the train line allows easy approach from the Hokuriku region side to the tourist spots in the North Alps, including Tateyama Kurobe and Hakuba, known for stunning mountain views.


Viewing Tateyama Mountain Range from Toyama Prefecture


For hikers who want to enjoy panoramic views of the North Alps at a distance, Mt. Myokosan, the 2454m-high mountain in Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park will be a great choice. The Mt. Myokosan area is easily reachable by bus from Joetsu-myoko station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line. (A 2-hour travel from JR Tokyo sta. to Joetsu-myoko sta. by bullet train)

Taking a train/bus and travel around Noto peninsula will be great for tourists who want to visit places off the beaten track. Don't miss the idyllic landscape and local-caught seafood there.


Hakuba, known for the marvelous ski resort.

Mt.Myokosan

Mitsukejima island (Noto Peninsula)

A view from Noto railway (Noto Peninsula)

Related Websites

JR East Hokuriku Shinkansen

https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/routemaps/hokurikushinkansen.html

JR Pass

https://www.jrpass.com/

Tourism Ishikawa by Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League

https://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/english/

Tourism Information in Toyama by Toyama Prefectural Tourism Association

https://foreign.info-toyama.com/en/

Go Nagano by Nagano Prefecture Tourism Association

https://www.go-nagano.net/

JAPAN ALPSTOURISM FEDERATION.

https://www.jp-alps.com/en/

Myoko by Myoko Tourist Office

https://myokotourism.com/
Joetsu Myoko
https://joetsu-myoko.com/

Kanazawa Tourism by Kanazawa City Tourism Association

https://visitkanazawa.jp/

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