Japan private tour tips for Toyama Prefecture travel

Toyama's 400-year-old Japanese traditional kampo medicine is made from plants like these.

Toyama Prefecture (capital Toyama City) is a fascinating destination that has a unique cultural history, abundant nature attractions (Northern Japan Alps), the less-touristed Gokayama thatched roof farmhouse villages (compared to Gifu Prefecture's Shirakawago Village), and florescent firefly squid. Toyama is on the Hokuriku bullet train line and easy to get to from both Tokyo and Kyoto.

A historical overview of Toyama:

Present-day Toyama city was part of ancient Etchu Province, which had excellent rice farmland, as well as a strategic importance for trade, which extended to nearby China in the Heian Period (794-1185).

In the Edo Period (1600-1868), the area of Toyama became part of Kaga Domain, ruled by the rich Maeda samurai clan of Kanazawa. With support from the Maeda clan and the Tokugawa Shogunate (in Edo or Tokyo), Toyama prefecture was developed as an important place for Japanese washi paper and the production of traditional herbal kampo medicine (imported from China in the Heian Period). Eventually, Toyama became Japan's medicine production center. Toyama City was also a location for the internment of Japan's Hidden Christians arrested in Nagasaki, Kyushu for their illegal Christian beliefs.

During the westernization of Japan from 1868 to 1912, Toyama became a key location for heavy industry and chemical production because of its abundant hydroelectrical resources.

In World War II, allied prisoners of war were sent to Toyama to serve as forced laborers. Toyama City was almost wiped from the map during the American firebombing of August 1–2, 1945 because of the city's high concentration of aluminum, ball-bearing and special steel production.

Today, Toyama City is an extremely popular Japanese gateway getaway location noted for it's proximity to beautiful mountain gorges and scenery. Learn more!

Toyama City highlight attractions:

Toyama's world-class Glass Art Museum: The Toyama Glass Art Museum has a huge Japanese and internation collection of glass art. The museum building was designed by one of Japan's most famous modern architects, Kuma Kengo. The museum hosts exhibitions year-round in addition to its permanent exhibits. The museum's 6th floor devoted to the genius glass installations by Dale Chihuly (US; considered one of the most famous glass artists in the world for the past few decades).

Toyama's folkcraft & museum village: The Toyama Municipal Folk Craft Village, located in a hillside forest west of downtown Toyama City, is home to a range of interesting small museums. The Museum of Medicine Peddlers showcases Toyama's 400 years of making and selling traditional kampo medicines. The Museum of Ceramic Art, in an old traditional building, has a collection of ceramics from all of Japan's 47 prefectures. The village has two stunning gassho-zukuri thatched roof farmhouses (which have been relocated from elsewhere in Toyama Prefecture) like those found in the nearby Gokayama farm villages (see below). The Museum of Folklore is located in one of the village's thatched roof farmhouses. The folkcraft village is adjacent to impressive Chokeiji Temple, which houses 500 ancient Buddhist rakan wooden statues.

Ikedaya Yasubei traditional medicine shop: If you really want to understand, even just a little, what traditional Japanese medicines are all about, then be sure to visit the Ikedaya Yasubei Shoten medicine shop, located in central Toyama City. The shop was established in 1936 and is one of the largest traditional medicine businesses in Japan (known as kampo medicine). If the shop clerk speaks English or using a text translation you can describe your personal ailment (or ailments) and they will recommend all kinds of herbal medicines. Ikedaya Yasubei's second floor is health restaurant themed around Japanese herbs and plants!

The rest of this post covers:

Best places to tour & experience in Toyama Prefecture

Japan private travel content by Your Japan Private Tours' (established in 1990) founder Japan travel expert Ian Martin Ropke. I have been planning, designing, and making custom Japan private tours on all five Japanese islands since the early 1990s. Your Japan Private Tours specializes in bespoke travel for private clients (I do not work with agents) including exclusive excursions, personalized experiences, and unique adventures. I am 100% client-centric and total individual attention. Consider my Japan travel services for your next trip. And thank you for reading my content. Learn more!

Best places to tour & experience in Toyama Prefecture

The amazing Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route: The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route crosses the Northern Japan Alps from the Toyama Prefecture side to the Nagano Prefecture side. The entire journey, using more than 5 kinds of transportation, requires about 7 hours one-way. Many only go to the top at Murodo and then return the way they came but that still requires 7 hours. But you can also sleep on the route and make the crossing in two days, for example. Accommodation in the form of hotels, mountain huts and campgrounds can be found along the route, especially around Murodo. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is open from April 15 to November 30. Southeast Asians and the Japan flock to the route in spring when it opens to experience an amazing snow corridor (with walls up to 20 meters high!). The route is also popular in summer for its breathtaking alpine flower vistas (June-August). In autumn (September-October), the Japanese Northern Alps are decorated with a palette of autumn colors. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is also great for hiking (multiple starting points).

Toyama's Gokayama farmhouse villages: The off-the-beaten-track villages of Gokayama in the Shogawa River Valley are World Heritage sites because of their centuries-old gassho-style thatched roof farmhouses. The Gokayama area is much less touristed by foreign travelers as nearly everyone flocks to Gifu Prefecture's Shirakawa Village, about an hour southwest of Gokayama by car or bus, from Takayama City. Gokayama's best known and largest villages are Ainokura and Suganuma. In these villages you will find family-run Japanese minshuku B & Bs for sleeping and this is really the best way to experience these farmhouse villages. Spend the night or even two and just wander in the ancient and natural past. The area is really an open-air history museum that showcases what village life was like in this area over the past 400 or more years. You can also learn how to make Japanese handmade washi paper in Gokayama. The closest train station to Gokayama, Johana Station, is the end of the Johana Line which begins in Takaoka City, which is famous for its Takaoka Daibutsu (one of Japan's three great Buddha statues) and an excellent historical merchant and craftwork district. From Johana Station you can take a bus or taxi to Gokayama. If you go, do try to spend the nigth! Learn more!

Toyama's stunningly green Kurobe Gorge: The Kurobe Gorge is one of the deepest in all of Japan and highly popular in spring, summer and autumn for it's unique forests and steep settings. Only about half of the Kurobe Gorge is accessible as of this writing due to the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. The damage from the earthquake is being repaired but that entire route won't open until late 2026. All the same you can do about half of the Kurobe Gorge route. The gorge railway currently goes as far as Nekomata Station. The Kurobe Gorge Railway sightseeing train was originally built to speed up the construction of the Kurobe Dam. Today, small trains ply the route along a 20-kilometer stretch of switchbacks. Tourists can get off at any station and explore and then get on another train. The entire trip, before the earthquake and the reopening of the route from bottom to top, takes about an hour and a half. Foreign travelers also flock to Kurobe Gorge and in the last few years advanced tickets have become mandatory so do investigate thoroughly before setting out to this amazing destination (of course, weekends are the busiest time!).

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