Tourist Season Opens In Central Japan Alpine Route
A scenic mountain route running through the Northern Alps in central Japan has reopened for tourists following a winter break.
The more than 37 kilometer-Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route links Tateyama Town in Toyama Prefecture and Omachi Town in Nagano Prefecture. It reopened on Thursday after piles of snow were removed from the road.
Just before 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, tourists got off buses that arrived at the route's Murodo station at 2,450 meters above sea level.
At the "Yuki no Otani," a popular sightseeing spot carved through snow, a signature snow wall is up to 14 meters high this year, to the delight of the visitors.
A man in his 60s from Shizuoka Prefecture said he was wondering how high the snow wall would be. He said he was overwhelmed by the landscape.
Another man in his 20s, who is from Toyama Prefecture, said he went there for the first time. He said the snow wall, which he saw from the bus window, was so high he could not see the sky above.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the route's opening this year, snow is removed in a way practiced half a century ago in parts of the route, resulting in a narrower road. Visitors on buses can see the snow wall closer than usual.
Nearly a million people visit the alpine route in a usual year, but the number of visitors fell to a record low of 230,000 last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mikado Kaname, the head of a company operating the route, said that while Japan has been hit by disasters repeatedly over the past 50 years, the route has become a tourist spot known both at home and abroad.
He added that he will implement anti-virus measures and hopes to keep the route prosperous over the next 50 years.