Tuesday, 11 November 2025

Today’s another travel day, getting from Matsumoto to Kanazawa. It could be done in just under 2.5 hours by backtracking to Nagano and taking a Shinkansen Kagayaki, so leave after breakfast and have lunch in Kanazawa. Did I do that? Of course I didn’t, are you crazy?

The journey is part of the adventure so instead I took a Limited Express Azusa to the end of its line (there is one Azusa that runs further than Matsumoto a day and it goes to Hakuba an hour away). Mostly empty car in the one I booked so no need to stay in the assigned seat but the view was on the side I had picked. Until earlier in the year this train had run all the way to the JR East/West boundary station, where the electricity stops, but not now so it was a 2 car local train that got me to the border. Sadly no time to hunt for eki stamps. At the border JR West had laid on one of its “finest”, a single car diesel KiHa 120-300. Everyone fitted after the old Japanese ladies sorted things out. So much stunning scenery of the Japanese Alps and so far from the window as where I was sitting it was commuter style seating along the wall. Again I had chosen well and was facing the scenery but taking photos of it not really possible, you’ll have to come to Japan and do it yourself. At the end of this all stops journey we’re at Itoigawa where there is a Shinkansen station.

Another challenge for me with ticketing. The gate wouldn’t let me through with the mobile Suica card. Strange it worked before and I checked that I had linked the ticket to the IC card but no go. Seek assistance so that’s what I had to do, no one seemingly in the ticket office so I had a brief look for another one but with a short connection it was back to the ticket office where I noticed the assistance bell. Station staff appeared and I gestured to the now unlocked phone with the booking showing the linked IC card. I was asked for the credit card and we went to the ticket machines. The staff member drove the process to retrieve and print tickets associated with the credit card. He asked me to confirm that it was the correct ticket which was kinda moot since I can’t read the Kanji but I got the tickets and was through the gate and to the platform before the train showed up for my 14 minute, one stop journey to Kurobe-Unazuki-Onsen.

Kurobe-Unazuki-Onsen is a transfer station of sorts. It is next to the Shin-Kurobe station of the private Toyama Chihou Railway. Walk undercover, cross a road, and get to the small station. No IC card nonsense here it’s physical tickets and the staff are prepared for foreigners who speak English as they have a laminated card with the ticket options in English. One, single to Unazuki-Onsen. Yes I really did want a single and not a return, yes to the 200 ¥ extra. Ticket purchased it was off to the platform to wait for the “limited express” train, ie it only stopped at Unazuki-Onsen. Nice scenic, rural railway and because I had walked up the platform past all the waiting people to get a photo of the train approaching I got on the relatively empty first car whilst a lot of the waiting people didn’t.

Unazuki Onsen is as the name suggests an onsen (spa) town and I had given up trying to get a hotel room there but I wasn’t there for the onsen, I was there for the Kurobe Gorge Railway. A railway line to service the power stations along the gorge which also runs tourist trains, open car and boring protected ones. I had booked the final run of the day but when I arrived to collect that ticket with my trusty QR code I was asked if I wanted to take the one that was just about to leave. Of course I did, more light, more fun. I could shoot around town later. They are still repairing the railway from rock slides a few years ago so it doesn’t go all the way to the end, and it would seem that they are still building the new turnaround point but it’s a great little railway. A bit chilly in an open car in early November but that’s what merino layers and an Antarctic puffer jacket are for 🙂

Back for a little walk around town and then back to the station and while it was now dark, sunset at 4:45pm seems very weird, the easy Shinkansen option was ignored again. This time I took an all stops Toyama Chihou train to what seemed like the middle of nowhere where I transferred to another 3rd sector railway the Ainokaze Toyama Railway. This transfer involved leaving the Toyama Chihou station, which was no more than a siding, and then using an underpass to come up in front of Ainokaze Toyama’s station which was a bit bigger and even had staff who confirmed that the Suica was accepted. Half way along the journey it in theory changed to IR Ishikawa Railway but no change of equipment so I was good.

Kanazawa station is huge and I was in search of a bus to get me close to the hotel. Went out one exit, wrong exit, so backtracked and then did a circuit of the bus stands looking for the one I wanted, which changed a couple of times since I was slow finding it. Mr Google really should take into account discovery time if it’s not going to point you at exactly the right stand.

Next “drama” of the day is that it would seem that Kanazawa buses don’t do IC cards so I grabbed a ticket instead. The information screen then proudly indicated that they take credit cards. Well I paid with cash on getting off and it was an easy walk to the hotel. I tried looking at the day’s photos but failed so this is a day late.

Bye Matsumoto it’s been fun but the big smoke beckons.

Limited Express Azusa, from Shinjuku station in Tokyo to Hakuba. It seems that they change the drivers here.

Pretty empty, maybe that’s why there is only one service a day that goes all the way to Hakuba. Notice the lights above the seats, green means reserved, red is not reserved (so fair game if you don’t have a seat reservation) and there is a yellow light to indicate that this free seat is about to not be free. Just a 1hr ride with some rural scenery.

Waiting at Hakuba is quite a downgrade for the 4 extra stops and 20 
minute ride to the border of JR East and JR West territory at Minami-Otari.

And then more rural scenery before the changeover into JR West territory and another downgrade.

I am not a Kanji master and hopefully this is the first and only one (that the gate gets to keep anyway) but a Shinkansen ticket without English subtitles.

and that ticket is for this beast

and for a change of pace we have this

using paper tickets (the 200 ¥ one is the limited express supplement).

And onto the Kurobe Gorge Railway

and yes the open cars are cool in lots of ways.

and we are off

The cunningly disguised Shin-Yanagawara Power Plant.

They built a bridge to allow monkeys to cross the river.

Some stations are not for getting off at, they are either for the power company employees or a passing place, or perhaps both.

Seems like mother nature is getting a little help.

And then we were at the current end station, Nekomata, which was reopened this year and is a building site.

This helicopter arrived empty, hovered near some power lines and then took off again.

All the girders made photography interesting. I really should have fired a burst when passing through these but you also didn’t know what was on the other side.

It was only when I was processing that I noticed the ladders. That’s a hard no from my knees.

Winter is coming in the Japanese Alps.

If you travel early you can get off and on, plus you might have gone to an onsen along the gorge.

And back at the start there is time to take pictures of the bridges before the light goes.

and the town

It took awhile to make up my mind but I decided that I had to go down to the pedestrian promenade.

and was rewarded by a returning train and enough light to capture it. I guess it was the one I was originally booked to ride. Back to the station via a steaming fountain.

Just a regular looking commuter (local) train for the next 53 minutes.

then the siding in the middle of nowhere

and the final train of the day for the 80 minute ride to Kanazawa

before the next hotel room and collapse.