Toyama City富山市

Housed in a stunning Kengo Kuma-designed building of wood lattice and glass called TOYAMA Kirari, this is a must-visit even for travellers who don’t usually seek out art museums. The atrium alone, an angled wood-clad interior pulling daylight through several floors, is worth the entry fee.

Inside: Dale Chihuly’s “Toyama Mille Fiori” and “Toyama Float Boat”, plus a permanent collection building on the city’s century-long history of pharmaceutical glass making, and rotating contemporary exhibitions.

The reconstructed “floating castle” sits in a wide moat that mirrors the keep on calm days. Only the Chitose Gomon Gate remains as authentic Edo-period architecture; the modern keep houses the Toyama Municipal Folk Museum. Especially beautiful in cherry blossom season (illuminated at night) and November foliage.

Adjacent on the edge of Kansui Park, the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (TAD) holds works by Picasso, Chagall, Miró, and Warhol, and its free rooftop garden offers one of the best unobstructed views of the Tateyama range in the city.

The Matsukawa River threads through the city with 500+ cherry trees lining the banks, listed among Japan’s 100 Best Cherry Blossom Spots. A 30-minute boat cruise has been operating for over 30 years (¥1,800 in spring, ¥1,600 other seasons).

North of the station, Kansui Park sits on the Fugan Canal, home to the “most beautiful Starbucks in the world” by Starbucks’ own global design awards. From here, the Fugan Suijo Line boat (~¥1,700, March–November) runs ~1 hour down to Iwase, passing through the 1934 Nakajima Lock.

At the end of the Fugan Canal sits Iwase, once Toyama’s wealthiest district, a centre for shipping merchants on the Edo-period Kitamae trade route. The streets retain their merchant-house architecture, and the area has become a small foodie destination.

Don’t miss Masuda Shuzō sake brewery (producer of “Mansaku”) for tastings, Café Co. Matsunami in a restored townhouse, and the glass studios and contemporary boutiques tucked inside the old buildings. Quieter than the centre, a good lunch or afternoon stroll.