This article is based on a visit made on Wednesday, 16 May 2018.
Edit 11 October 2019: Updated prices to reflect the increase in Japan's national sales tax.
Previously on Sekai Ichi, my grandmother and I reached the peak of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route,
the Murodo Highlands. But this was only the half-way point of our adventure.
To pick up from where we left off, we took the Tateyama Trolleybus from a station directly adjacent to the Tateyama Hotel. A trolleybus is a bus that is powered by overhead electrical lines, like a trolley or a bumper car. This particular trolleybus drives through a tunnel narrow enough for only one bus at a time. However, like the earlier cable cars, there is a section in the middle which allows buses heading in opposite directions to pass each other.
At the other end, we find ourselves at Daikanbo, the upper station of the Tateyama Ropeway. With a distance of 1.7km (1.1 mi.), and a vertical difference of 488m (1,601 ft.), this is the world's longest aerial lift without any mid-span supporting towers. Due to the limited capacity of the cars, this is one of the Alpine Route's more infamous bottlenecks.
If you do find yourself with extra time to spare, you can walk upstairs to the observation deck, which looks out upon the Kurobe Dam and the surrounding valley. Or, just do what I did, and take pictures from the front of the gondola.
Upon alighting at the lower station, Kurobedaira, we then have one more ride to go before reaching the Kurobe Dam, and it is the Kurobe Cable Car. We already went through one of these at the other end, so you know the deal by now.
Finally, we reach the Kurobe Dam. It was constructed between 1956 and 1963 to meet the growing electricity needs of western Japan in the post-World War II period. At 186 metres (610 feet) tall and 492m (1,614 ft.) wide, it is the largest hydroelectric dam in Japan.
As part of the Alpine Route, visitors will have to cross the dam on foot. This simple walk should only take ten to fifteen minutes. Along the way, you will get to see views such as this one, looking downstream to the north.
The other side, to the south, consists of the dam's reservoir, Lake Kurobe. I didn't find the views from this angle quite as appealing, due to all the tree trunks and other detritus that had washed up to the edge of the dam. But, I suppose that algae-fueled emerald-green colour is brilliant in its own way.
Wherever you take pictures from, be very careful to keep a tight grip on your camera, or whatever you're taking pictures with! I would hate for you to drop it from so far up!
On the east side of the dam stands a restaurant and gift shop, as well as a small museum about the construction of the dam, which is free to visit but only has descriptions in Japanese. At the end of the hall is a mockup of the tunnel that was dug out to reach the area from across the neighbouring mountains. Reportedly, a total of ten million people were involved in the project which, if true, would be over 10% of the population of the entire country at the time (e.g. over 94 million people in 1960). 171 of those people died while working on the dam. They are honoured by a memorial statue, located on the east side of the dam, a bit along the lake.
If you want a better view of the dam, there are two additional places you can choose to head to. The first is an observation deck situated at the top of a 220-stair, 15-minute ascent. It's a bit of a hike for some people.
If that sounds too hard, or time-consuming, you can also go down a shorter staircase to a newer observation deck, which brings you much closer to the dam. This looks like a spectacular place to see the water discharges which take place from June through October. As of this article, the discharges will next take place from 26 June through 15 October 2019. Those deluges, and the rainbows that often form amidst the sprays, would certainly make the sight of this dam less drab, but when you're here in person, the sheer scale of this thing is always impressive in its own right.
Another activity I was unable to take advantage of at the time is the "Garve" pleasure cruise, which makes 30-minute trips around the lake from June to early November. Tickets for this ride cost ¥1,080.
The mascot of Kurobe Dam is a black cat in a hard hat, called Kuronyon. "Kuro" means "black", and "nyon" is a Japanese word for the sound a cat makes. Naturally, he is featured on plenty of merchandise sold here...
...as is "Dam Curry", a specialty of the local restaurant. Here, the rice forms an arched dam shape to hold back the sauce, which is blended with spinach to create a green tint. If the thought of this tickles your taste buds, the gift shop sells packs of this curry mix for you to make at home. If not... well, you can always buy this dish in plastic keychain form.
Once we're done here, one last official leg of the Alpine Route remains, and that is the Kanden Trolleybus. "Kanden" here is short for Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO), the company which owns and operates the Kurobe Dam. The tunnel used by the trolleybus today, which crosses the boundary between Toyama and Nagano Prefectures, was originally dug out to transport people and materials for building the Kurobe Dam. As with the other trolleybus, the tunnel is wide enough only for single buses, apart from a passing section in the middle.
And with that, we are pretty much finished! All that's left to do, besides this sign-off selfie I took at the bus station, was to find our way back to our hotel. For some, this may involve taking a local bus to one of the hot-spring resorts in the town of Omachi. For us, that involved taking an express bus to Nagano, and the Hokuriku Shinkansen back to Toyama. Finally, after such a hectic but interesting day, we had earned our rest. We would follow that up, with a considerably more relaxed start, by taking an excursion to an all-new city, which I invite you to join me on, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Kurobe Dam
Hours: The dam itself is open 24 hours, but transportation to/from the dam is not. For most seasons, the first Kanden trolleybus leaves Ogizawa for Kurobe Dam station at 7:30 AM, and the last returning bus departs for Ogizawa at 5:35 PM. Closed, along with the rest of the Alpine Route, from mid-November to mid-April. The "Garve" pleasure cruise operates from early June to mid-November, and runs daily from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Schedule:
(English)
Cost: Free. The "Garve" pleasure cruise costs ¥1,080 per ride.
Address: Ashikura-ji, Nakaniikawa-ku, Toyama-ken 〒930-1406
Access: Kurobe Dam is part of the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route. From Shinano-Omachi station, take a bus to Ogizawa Station (40 minutes), followed by the Kanden Trolleybus to Kurobe Dam (16 minutes). Round-trip fare for this section costs ¥5,110.
Website:
(Japanese)
