People and Places: The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route - Kurobe Dam

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, completed in 1971, connects Shinano Omachi with Toyama.  The section between Ogizawa and Tateyama Station is closed to private vehicles but is well linked by various forms of transportation.  

We left Matsumoto early in the morning and headed to Ogizawa.  We arrived at Ogizawa to catch the first departure on the Kanden Tunnel Trolley Bus which was  to bring direct to Kurobe Dam.  The unique electrically powered trolley-bus is officially classified as a railway line, although it resembles more of a bus.  It took a mere 16 minutes to complete the 6.1km journey.

The Kanden Trolley Bus

Taken at Kurobe Dam early in the morning when we first arrived.

Kurobe Dam is Japan's largest dam.  It was an engineering feat considering that it's construction began in 1956 (post-war Japan).  A novel turned film Kurobe no Taiyō (The Sun of Kurobe), recounts the drama of the project's construction. The main attraction for us, however, were the views of the surrounding mountains and the lake formed by the dam.

From Kurobe, we took the Kurobe cable-car and changed at Kurobedaira to the Tateyama Ropeway to Daikanbo.  From here, the Tateyama Trolley Bus transported us to Murodo, entry way to the famous Murodo Snow Corridor.

The Kurobe Cable Car is the only underground cable car system in Japan.

Tateyama Ropeway

The cable car of the Tateyama Ropeway is one of the most unique in the world. This is the only cable car in Japan without pylons along its span. It is like a “moving observatory” giving a full panoramic view of the surrounding nature.  Even though the ride was short, we enjoyed the stunning view.

From Daikanbo we board the Tateyama Trolley Bus to Murodo, our destination for the day. This system boasts the highest altitude trolley bus in Japan, at 2450m. The bus runs inside a tunnel, piercing through the heart of Mt Tateyama (3015m). Like the Kanden Trolly Bus, it is powered by electricity, so the bus does not produce any exhaust fume and is environmentally friendly.  

Tateyama Trolley Bus