Japan is launching a new large-pace bullet train, or shinkansen, extension on Saturday that will make an beneath-the-radar prefecture far much more accessible to travelers.
The coastal Fukui Prefecture is some 185 miles west of Tokyo. The new coach will pass by way of the metropolis of Fukui, the town of Awara and other places guidebooks seldom point out, ahead of achieving the port city of Tsuruga, incorporating some 78 miles to the Hokuriku Shinkansen’s current Tokyo-to-Kanazawa provider.
The moment it starts on March 16, the route will open up a doorway to a part of Japan — acknowledged for dinosaurs, Zen meditation and calming warm-spring baths — exactly where several global vacationers go.
Jurassic Japan
Of all the stops on the new extension, Fukui helps make the ideal foundation for traveling to the sights of the prefecture.
Dinosaurs are one particular of the area’s major draws, from the robotic replicas at Fukui Station to the neighborhood mascot, a smiley, environmentally friendly dino named Juratic, whose confront is emblazoned on souvenirs in the course of the metropolis.
There is fantastic reason for that. Close to 80% of Japan’s dinosaur fossils have been found in Fukui, something the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama does an outstanding work of detailing in Japanese and English.
Just under an hour from Fukui Station on the trundling Katsuyama-Eiheiji rail line, the cavernous museum residences a collection of remains and exhibits on the existence and demise of dinosaurs, additionally life-size animatronics of a menacing Tyrannosaurus rex and a extended-necked herbivore. Fossil digs in the connected Katsuyama Dinosaur Park incorporate a fingers-on ingredient that is specially properly-geared for people.
Discovering Zen and sizzling springs
On the nearby coach back again to Fukui, vacationers interested in learning about Zen Buddhism can hop off at Eiheijiguchi Station to go to Eiheiji, a temple and monastery founded in the 1200s by the famous Zen priest and scholar Dogen.
Travelers with a couple of hours can discover the temple structures, but it truly is also doable to system an right away temple stay that includes possibilities for zazen meditation periods and standard plant-dependent Buddhist meals.
A Geisha walks by a functionality hall in Awara, Japan.
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With an extra day in Fukui, one more option is to acquire the new shinkansen to Awara for a location of standard pampering. Like quite a few compact warm spring towns in Japan, the cause most people pay a visit to Awara is to spend a evening at a ryokan inn, where by they soak in mineral-abundant baths, slip into yukata robes, unwind in tatami mat guestrooms and indulge in kaiseki-ryori dinners showcasing a photogenic array of small in-period dishes.
But there is plenty to do in Awara past baths and ryokans, with arms-on encounters like glassblowing and ceramics at Kanaz Forest of Development — a 200,000 sq.-meter forest home to artwork installations and walking trails. Rural places also have orchard-choosing — strawberries in the spring and blueberries, grapes and Asian pears in the summertime.
The end of the line
The new shinkansen service finishes in the town of Tsuruga. Arguably, there is less to linger for below, but those people with a few several hours to spare can visit a number of standout sights available through the city bus.
Suishouhama Beach, in close proximity to the city of Tsuruga.
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The Kehi-no-Matsubara beachside pine grove is a nationally designated site of scenic beauty.
Also alongside the coast is the Port of Humanity Museum, which information how Jewish refugees from Poland and Lithuania arrived in Tsuruga in the 1940s right after getting granted distinctive visas by Japanese diplomat Sugihara Chiune. It’s believed that Sugihara saved a number of thousand Jews from Nazi focus camps.
Travelers can also comply with the footsteps of the 17th-century haikuist Matsuo Basho, who visited Tsuruga’s Kehi Jingu shrine to see the autumnal full moon throughout a journey immortalized in the haiku-punctuated travelogue “The Slender Road to the Deep North.”
Kehi-no-Matsubara in Tsuruga, Japan.
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The shrine has been rebuilt many occasions due to the fact Basho’s check out, but the variation he saw absolutely remaining an effect. “The air of the shrine was hushed in the silence of night,” he wrote, “and the moon by way of the darkish needles of pine shone brilliantly.”
Whilst Basho left Tsuruga plodding slowly and gradually south, currently convey trains run from Tsuruga down to Kyoto in just under an hour, or southeast to Nagoya in 90 minutes. Travelers can also reboard the new shinkansen for the three-hour ride back again to Tokyo.
