UNAZUKI STATION (UNAZUKIMACHI, TOYAMA PREF.)
Tram affords passengers some gorge-ous views
| The Shin-Yamabikobashi bridge near the Unazuki Station is 40 meters high. From a distance, the tram, packed with passengers and crossing the deep gorge slowly, looks like a toy. |
| Passengers take photos of the spectacular scenery from the tram, which has no windows to allow the breeze to blow through the tram. |
| A cable car climbs a 34-degree slope on the Kurobe route that was constructed exclusively for the dam's construction work. Tourists can visit there as part of organized tours. |
Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Toshihiko Kawaguchi
By Yuka Matsumoto
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Passengers boarding the Kurobe Gorge tram used to be given tickets that warned their safety could not be guaranteed on the line, which offers a chance to enjoy the scenic beauty and cool breeze of the gorge.
The tram began operation in 1926 to service the building of dams along the Kurobegawa river. But from the beginning, the picturesque route it took attracted tourists, so the tram company began allowing them on board--albeit with the safety warning.
The Kurobe Gorge tramway is now primarily a tourist attraction but, as the only transportation in the area, still carries workers and material for the dams.
From its terminus at Unazuki Station, the tram slowly ascends 375 meters, taking one hour and 20 minutes to make the 20-kilometer journey to Keyakidaira Station, the last stop for tourists.
From Keyakidaira to the Kurobe Dam, 18 kilometers away, the tramroad is used exclusively to support construction work by Kansai Electric Power Co.
The dams brought more than electricity from the Kurobegawa. In 1923, a power company began piping hot water from the Kuronagi hot springs, seven kilometers upstream from Unazuki Station, to Unazukimachi, allowing the opening of the Unazuki Spa. Nowadays, about 3,000 tons of hot water is transported daily to the town.
Early one morning at Unazuki Station, amongst the helmeted workers, I met Ichiro Shimizu, 56, waterway chief of the KEPCO's Koyadaira Dam.
Shimizu was born in Unazukimachi and is in charge of routine maintenance of a dam near the Keyakidaira Station. "The Unazuki Station is where I switch my mind from private mode to working mode."
His work begins immediately after the tram leaves the station, checking for landslides and changes in water levels.
Shimizu stays in the mountains for four or five days at a time.
"I had understood that I might not be present at the death of my parents while I do this job. But when my mother died suddenly two years ago, I happened to be out of the mountains and was able to be with her when she died," he said.
About a month from now, the first snow will fall and the Kurobe basin will soon be covered in snow.
The train runs from April to November. After tourists disappear, Shimizu continues to visit the dam with other workers, making a half day journey by bus or on foot from the Nagano Prefecture side of the basin.
(September. 23, 2005)
JAPANESE
The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun
