Shinminato新湊

Shinminato holds a rare midday auction of red snow crab (beni-zuwai, sold locally as Kōshi no beni-gani, 高志の紅ガニ). Visitors watch from a gallery on the second floor, reached by stairs only. The fishing season opened on 10 September 2026, and viewing runs from 11 September 2026 to about mid-May 2027.

You must book by phone, in Japanese: 0766-84-1233. Same-day places are sometimes left, and the market posts whether the auction is on at about 9:30 each morning. Check in at the desk with the 昼セリ banner between 11:00 and 12:00, pay ¥100 a person, and the auction starts at 12:30. It lasts 5 to 20 minutes. No flash, no loud voices: these are real buyers. It does not run on Wednesdays, Sundays or over New Year, nor in bad weather. Since September 2025 the crab sit on racks or in tanks rather than across the floor, so the old picture of a red carpet no longer applies.

The harbour market is a hall of fishmongers and restaurants. Two things to order: red snow crab (September to mid-May) and shiroebi, the translucent white shrimp, which the fishery lands from April to November. The fishmonger Uoshin (魚新, 9:00–16:30) sells boiled crab and, on auction days, serves it freshly boiled from about 13:30. The Kōhaku-don (紅白丼) is a bowl half red-crab meat, half shiroebi sashimi, ¥3,800; it came back on 18 July 2026 after a break that began with the Noto earthquake.

The hall’s grill corner, Hamakaze, closed on 31 July 2026. The market has parking for 470 cars, and a direct Toyama Buri-Kani bus runs from Toyama Station from 2 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.

Uchikawa is a canal about 3.4 km long that joins the sea at both ends. It was a relay port for the Kitamae-bune merchant ships (for a Kitamae-bune shipowners' village in Kaga, see Hashitate), and today fishing boats line both banks below old houses. More than ten bridges cross it, among them the covered Azuma-bashi, designed by a Spanish architect.

The Shinminato Kankosen boat does the “Uchikawa and 12 bridges” cruise, about 50 minutes from the pier by Kaiō Maru Park. Adults ¥2,200, children ¥1,100, or ¥2,000 with a Manyōsen tram receipt. Sailings run 9:00–16:00 to 31 October, 10:00–15:00 from 1 November to 13 December, then stop for winter until 19 February. Closed Wednesdays. A night cruise runs Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; book it seven days ahead.

A four-masted sailing ship open to the public and nicknamed “the Lady of the Sea”. Boarding is ¥500 (children ¥200) and the park is free. It opens 9:30–17:00 (hours shift by season) and closes on Wednesdays. All 29 sails are set on listed Sundays; the last in 2026 is 18 October, decided at 8:00 that morning. In 2025 the ship closed for hull maintenance from 29 October to 21 November, so check before you plan a November trip.

Behind it, the Shinminato Bridge has a free walkway, the Ai-no-kaze Promenade, 47 m above the water, with a lift up.

A small tram from Takaoka Station out to the port: about 45 minutes to Higashi-Shinminato, with trams every 15 minutes or so from 7 to 10 and 15 to 19, fewer in the evening. The fare to Naka-Shinminato, the stop before Higashi-Shinminato, is ¥400 on 14 October 2026; I have not confirmed the fare for the last two stops. It is not covered by a rail pass. The Doraemon Tram runs on some days; it does not run on Wednesdays.