4184 - Tsu, Mie, Japan

This card is a photo of a section of the Kurobe Gorge 黒部峡谷. It is a V-shaped canyon located at Kurobe, Japan. It is here where you will find Kurobe Dam 黒部ダム, a hydroelectric dam, and at 186 metres tall, the highest dam in Japan. The gorge is a part of the Northern Japanese Alps and part of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route.

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route 立山黒部アルペンルート is a mountain sightseeing route between Tateyama 立山町 and Ōmachi 大町市. It was opened in 1971 and is 37 kilometres long, with a difference in elevation as high as 1975 metres. 

The route is composed of seven different transportation services using five different modes: funicular, bus, trolleybus, aerial tramway, and walking. Three transport lines go through tunnels to protect them from snow: one funicular railway and two bus lines. One of the bus lines is the last trolleybus line in Japan, and the other was converted to all-electric buses in 2018. The bus lines are used because they do not exhaust fumes in the tunnels. During summer, shuttle buses between Toyama and Murodō are also available.

Along the route you will find:

• The Oyama Shrine, near the Oyama Peak;
• Shopping and onsen bath on Murodo Plateau. The onsen uses sulpher spring water for the bath. There is hiking and walking paths that go through Jigokudani (Hell's Valley);
• Between mid-April to June, the snow walls flank the road leading to Murodo Station. The walls can be 15-20 metres high; and
• Kurobe Dam.