• The stunning Japanese Alps stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan with beautiful scenery throughout. In the Northern Alps in Toyama prefecture is the famous Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route. This route stretches across a mountain range and goes over magnificent gorges, charming lakes and seemingly endless highlands. During the winter time this area is transformed into a white paradise, with snows walls that can stretch as high as 20 meters(60 feet). On this tour you will ride one of our company’s buses to get to the highest point, in Murodo, where you can walk along this snow wall and enjoy the other winter sights in the area. On the way there, we will have a brief stop in Ashikuraji, the traditional start of the climb to Mt. Tateyama. Learn about how people viewed heaven and hell and this mountains role in those. Let’s venture together into history and then the “Roof of Japan” and revel in this mountains region’s beauty.

After about an hour and a half we will arrive at the base of Mt. Tateyama at Oyama Shrine. This was where most hikers and pilgrims would start their ascent to the top of the mountain, the same area where we will be going later. Mt. Tateyama was worshipped as a place of hell and heaven and in this town, you can see the hell side of the mountain. Enma-do is unusual as it is a place to worship Enma, the god that decides who goes to heaven and hell. Down the ravine slightly is also the bridge that represents the divide between the world of the living and the world of the dead. After that little bit of exploration we will hop back on the bus and restart our journey to the top.