TOYAMA, Japan - Officials in Toyama Prefecture on Thursday marked the launch of a new sightseeing route taking visitors through tunnels deep in the mountains of central Japan, a day before tours are set to begin following a delay caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake.
The ceremony also marked the full resumption of the Kurobe Gorge Railway, where services had remained suspended on part of the line since the earthquake damaged bridges and other infrastructure.
About 50 local officials and others attended the ceremony. Kurobe Gorge Railway President Kazushi Morita said, "Part of the line remained out of service after the earthquake, but we have been preparing for this day."
Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Toyama Gov. Hachiro Nitta rang the departure bell and a trolley train carrying participants left the station.
The roughly 18-kilometer Kurobe-Unazuki Canyon Route links the Kurobe Gorge Railway with a popular mountain sightseeing corridor between Toyama and Nagano prefectures, the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route.
The route takes visitors through underground tunnels and other facilities built during the construction of power plants in the Kurobe area. Highlights include a vertical shaft elevator and a tunnel where rock temperatures once exceeded 160 C during construction.
Visitors must join an overnight package tour booked through a travel agency to use the route.
The magnitude 7.6 Noto Peninsula earthquake on Jan. 1, 2024, damaged bridges and other railway infrastructure and forced the postponement of the canyon route's planned opening in June that year.
Toyama's tourism industry has been recovering from the impact of the earthquake, helped by an increase in overseas visitors, according to the prefectural government.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route drew about 845,000 visitors in 2025, up 2.6 percent from the previous year, while the Kurobe Gorge Railway attracted about 288,000.
The canyon route and the railway are scheduled to operate through the end of November.
