Travel guides for the seven cities of the Japan Alps: Hida, Toyama, Omachi, Takayama, Azumino, Matsumoto, and Shiojiri.
Toyama is the only Japan Alps city with a coastline, the gateway to the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route, and the home of Kengo Kuma’s glass museum. Bay sushi, black ramen, sake breweries in the Iwase port district, and the snow corridor at 2,450m. Two days in the city, plus a third for the Alpine Route.
Hida City has 1,000 koi in its drainage ditches, three working sake breweries, the wildest April festival in central Japan, and a neutrino observatory under a mountain. Two stops up the JR Hida line from Takayama, mostly empty of tourists, half a day to a day to do properly.
Takayama is the preserved Edo-period town in the Hida mountains with two festivals, two morning markets, the last Edo-era government house in Japan, and the best tour-bus-avoidance strategy involving a 6am alarm. Plus Shirakawa-go, Shinhotaka Ropeway and Hida Furukawa within easy day trips.
Matsumoto is one of only five castles in Japan with its original 16th-century wooden donjon still standing. That gets you off the Shinkansen; the black-walled streets, the Kusama museum, the soba and the Alps ten minutes up the road are what keep you for two nights. Plus the practical bits most guides skip.
