🌿 Part 19 — From Takaoka to Toyama: From Bronze Streets to the City of Water and Light

🌿 Part 19 — From Takaoka to Toyama: From Bronze Streets to the City of Water and Light

Leaving the calm rhythm of Takaoka, the train glides east toward Toyama, just twenty minutes away — yet this short journey feels like passing from the quiet sound of hammers to the soft echo of flowing water. The line follows the Himi coast for a while before curving inland, where rice fields shimmer and the distant Tateyama Mountains rise like a painted screen.

Arriving in Toyama, the first impression is light — sunlight reflecting off canals, rivers, and glass buildings. The city is often called the City of Water and Glass, where tradition meets elegant modern design. Walk out of the station, and you’ll find the Toyama Glass Art Museum, a luminous space designed by architect Kengo Kuma, where glass sculptures glimmer like frozen light.

A short walk leads to the Matsukawa River, lined with cherry trees that bloom each spring. Boat rides drift quietly beneath stone bridges — the water mirroring the seasons, from pink petals to autumn gold. The calm surface hides Toyama’s long history as a castle town and a gateway to the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, one of Japan’s most dramatic mountain passages.

Stop by the Toyama Castle Park, where moats reflect both sky and memory. In summer evenings, fireflies hover above the water, and the scent of grass fills the air. Nearby, cafés serve white shrimp tempura and Toyama black ramen, both local favorites that tell stories of sea and city combined.

Toyama is also a place of renewal — rebuilt after wartime air raids, it became a model of quiet modernity, balancing nature, architecture, and community. The Tram Loop Line circles the city like a heartbeat, its cars gliding past rivers, gardens, and glass façades.

Traveling from Takaoka to Toyama may be short in distance, but it feels vast in spirit — a movement from metal to water, from stillness to reflection, from handcraft to light. It’s a reminder that every journey in Japan, no matter how brief, carries an entire landscape within it.