toyama means "rich mountain" indeed this place is rich in mountain culture, but also in seafood as its coast line faces japanese sea.the weather wasn't as nice as it could be when i was there, but i still enjoyed sightseeing around the region. a few days earlier, i've seen a place called "tateyama snow corridor" on tv and found that it's in toyama.
it was amazing. not being snobby nor cocky, with my travel experiences, i normally don't get surprised or impressed easily. well this place was very exciting! from meiko's home we drove one hour, took a cable car for 7 minutes, and then rode a bus for 50 minutes. this is the only way to get to where the corridor is. no private cars are allowed to drive in.
the corridor is located at an alutitude of 2,450m (8,038ft). we saw clouds below us. after we walked and looked around for Ptarmigan, a bird only lives in the high mountiain and not finding any, we dipped ourselves into the hot spring which was located highest altitude in japan. the hot spring contained sulfur, of course at the level of not killing us.
an evidence of global warming seems to be visible at the corridor. it used to record the snowfall of 20m(65ft), but now it has become 15m(49ft). i am not sure why they opened this road. they get over 15m(49ft) of snow per season. they start plowing this 90km(56miles) long road in the end of january to be able to open in the middle of april...
i'm glad to cross out one destination from my "place i want to see." go visit if you have chance. the corridor is only accessible from the mid april to the end of may.
