Toyama Bay富山湾

Iwase was the port that sent rice and sake north and brought kelp home on the Kitamae-bune merchant ships, and the shipping agents' street still stands: long narrow plots, deep eaves, storehouses behind. Walking it takes 20–30 minutes. Baba House 旧馬場家住宅 costs ¥100 (9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30, cash only), and the Mori house is closed for earthquake repairs until at least fiscal 2027.

Saseki 沙石, the standing bar of the Masuizumi brewery, opens at 10:00 and closes on Tuesdays; a glass is ¥200–500. The driver should not taste (see Snow and roads), but a bottle of Masuizumi is a good thing to carry home. The lanes are narrow, so leave the car in a car park and walk. More in the Iwase guide.

Shinminato holds a rare midday auction of red snow crab (beni-zuwai, sold locally as 高志の紅ガニ), and visitors watch from a gallery on the second floor. It costs ¥100; you book by phone, in Japanese, on 0766-84-1233 (ask your hotel or the hire desk to call), check in at the desk with the 昼セリ banner between 11:00 and 12:00, and the auction starts at 12:30 and lasts 5 to 20 minutes. No flash, no loud voices: these are real buyers. Viewing runs to about mid May 2027; it does not run on Wednesdays, Sundays or over New Year, nor in bad weather. The market posts at about 9:30 each morning whether it is on.

Before registering, walk next door to Kaiwo Maru Park. The four-masted sailing ship 海王丸 is in hull maintenance from 28 October to 14 November 2026, so it cannot be boarded until it reopens (boarding is ¥500 otherwise, closed Wednesdays), but the park is free and so is the walkway on the Shinminato Bridge beside it. Details in the Shinminato guide.

Across 60 km of bay, the snow-covered Tateyama range rises out of the sea behind Onnaiwa Rock, a pine-topped islet, and legend says the name 雨晴 (rain-clearing) comes from Minamoto no Yoshitsune sheltering from rain under a rock on this beach. The classic picture is sunrise on a clear December–February day, with the most snow on the mountains; the afternoon trip gives you the low light and the Onnaiwa silhouette near sunset. The light goes by about 16:30.

The small station has an observation deck and a live webcam, and the roadside station Michi-no-Eki Amaharashi has a seafood café and a picture window on the same view, a warm place to wait if the wind is up. Our Himi and Amaharashi guide has the rest.

Banya-gai is the market built in the style of fishermen's sheds beside the port: fresh seafood and souvenir shops from 8:30 to 18:00, a food court, and restaurants from 11:00. The conveyor-belt sushi runs 10:00–20:00, and the restaurant Banyatei 番屋亭 takes reservations and serves winter-yellowtail (寒ブリ) kaiseki plans. A free footbath on the way to the public bath (総湯) looks across the sea to the Tateyama range, 8:30–17:30.

Closing days are not stated on the market's page, so check its newest notices before you go. Come at 11:00 for a late first lunch, or take the kan-buri to the footbath as a snack.

Takaoka was founded in 1609 and its casters have worked in Kanayamachi for 400 years. The street is cobbled, with the vertical wooden lattices (samanoko) found only here. The Takaoka City Metal Casting Museum costs ¥300; Kōryō Kinjudō, a merchant house turned shop, shows works by Living National Treasures; and at the Rizaburō Studio you can cast your own sake cup or small dish if you book ahead.

The streets are narrow, so park outside the lattice street and walk. If you have an hour left, the Zen temple Zuiryū-ji (National Treasure, ¥500, 9:00–16:30) is a short walk from Takaoka Station. Everything else is in the Takaoka guide.

Cedar stumps buried about 2,000 years ago stand in a water-filled hall at the Buried Forest Museum: ¥640 for adults, 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), parking free for 100 cars. It closes on Thursdays from 15 December to March and over New Year. The Uozu Aquarium, the oldest still operating in Japan, is 10 minutes by car: ¥1,000, 9:00–17:00, closed on Mondays from 1 December to 15 March.

The two best sushi counters, Daimon and Tasuke, serve dinner by booking, so eat well at breakfast and keep your appetite for Unazuki. See the Uozu guide.

The gorge railway closes for winter (1 December to 20 April in 2026), so this is a night for the baths and the dinner, not the trolley. A ryokan kaiseki blends Toyama Bay seafood, buri in winter, with Kurobe mountain vegetables and Kurobe River trout. The town has a free outdoor footbath by the station and a small beginner ski area, Unazuki Snow Park, a five-minute walk from the station (it opened on 5 January last season).

Winter tyres matter more up the valley than on the coast; confirm they are fitted before you leave Toyama. More in the Unazuki guide and the Kurobe guide.