Riding Japan's best little mountain railway from Unazuki Onsen: emerald dam lakes, a castle in the gorge, firefly-squid shabu-shabu at the ryokan — and the full line reopens October 2026.
The Kurobe Gorge Railway is a narrow-gauge line of open-sided cars that rattles from Unazuki Onsen deep into one of Japan’s steepest gorges. My family rode it in May 2025, when snow still streaked the peaks and the dam lakes below glowed an emerald that looked color-graded. It wasn’t even the full route — and it was still one of the best train rides in Japan.
First, the news that makes this worth planning now: after the 2024 Noto earthquake damaged a bridge deep in the gorge, the line has run shortened for three seasons. From October 1, 2026, the full route to Keyakidaira finally reopens — just in time for the gorge’s famous autumn colors.
| Base town | Unazuki Onsen, Toyama — Hokuriku Shinkansen + a short local line, or drive (we drove) |
| The ride | Open-sided torokko cars; we rode to the Sasadaira turnaround, the earthquake-era terminus |
| Full line | Unazuki → Keyakidaira service resumes October 1, 2026; season runs to late November |
| Where we stayed | Togen ryokan, ¥38,650 per person with two meals |
Unazuki Station, where the gorge line begins — a few minutes’ walk from the onsen street.
The cars are genuinely open — a roof, a bench, no glass unless you pay for the enclosed class — so the gorge arrives with wind and river-noise included. Minutes out of Unazuki the first reservoir appears, and the color is the whole show: a milky, mineral emerald that no photo filter touches.
May in the gorge: new leaves below, last snow above, and that water.
The Shin-Yanagawara power station, built to look like a European castle — the gorge’s strangest sight, best seen from the train.
A red arch over the reservoir near Unazuki Dam.
We rode as far as Sasadaira, the temporary terminus that spring, where the locomotive uncouples and runs around the train for the trip back — a little ritual the rail-minded will enjoy.
The orange locomotive running around at Sasadaira. The headmark marks the line’s sister-railway pact with Taiwan’s Alishan Forest Railway.
Riders from October 2026 get what we couldn’t: the full run to Keyakidaira, twice the gorge and its deepest scenery. Frankly, I’m a little jealous.
One tip for the ride itself: on the way to Unazuki, Ariso Kitokito-an (有磯きときと庵) in Kurobe does takeout, bento included — and its seared (aburi) masu-zushi was the best pressed-trout sushi I have ever had. Masu-zushi is Toyama’s signature box meal, and picking one up beforehand to open on the open-air car, gorge sliding past, is a completely legitimate plan.
Back in Unazuki, walk ten minutes up to the Yamabiko viewpoint: it looks straight onto the red Shin-Yamabiko bridge, and if you time it with the schedule you’ll watch a toy-sized orange train clatter across the gorge — we did, and it’s the town’s best free entertainment. The Unazuki Dam viewpoint nearby adds the reservoir angle.
The Shin-Yamabiko bridge from the viewpoint. Wait a few minutes and a train will cross it.
We stayed at Togen (桃源), one of the classic ryokan in Unazuki’s compact onsen street, at ¥38,650 per person with two meals. The building shows its age in places but everything was clean, and the room looked straight over the river — you fall asleep to it.
The baths were the highlight. Best of all was the private kashikiri bath, which works on a simple first-come system: if the sign hanging outside says vacant, it’s yours. We caught it free in the morning and soaked while the river slid past below — the highlight of the stay. Check that sign early.
Dinner at Togen: a parade of Toyama’s May specialties.
Dinner ran through Toyama’s spring repertoire, and the table’s showpiece was firefly squid shabu-shabu — you cook the little squid in the broth yourself, and the house rule (as we were warned) is simple: once they’re done, lift them out. Let them linger and they burst.
Hotaruika shabu-shabu: cook them through, then out — overstay and they pop.
One confession that doubles as advice: Togen offers onsen-tamago making — boil your own eggs in the spring water — and we missed it, because we got so absorbed wandering the onsen street that its reception hours ended. Learn from us: eggs first, stroll after.
On the drive in we queued over an hour at Shiroebi-tei, in Toyama Station’s market hall, for the white-shrimp sashimi bowl (¥3,600) — a mound of sweet, translucent shrimp from Toyama Bay over rice (a loaded “special” runs ¥6,000). The sweetness is the point. The queue is real; go hungry and early.
The shiroebi bowl at Shiroebi-tei: Toyama Bay’s white shrimp, sweet enough to explain the line.
Even earthquake-shortened, this was the ride of the trip: open air, emerald water, a castle in a gorge, and an onsen town at the bottom of it. From October 2026 you get the whole line back, and October–November is exactly when the gorge turns red and gold. Plan accordingly — and in the morning, go check that bath sign before anyone else does.
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