We purposely took the long way to Kanazawa so that we could see some of the countryside. So our journey was Tokyo to Nagano, then Nagano to Noetsu, then Noetsu to Kanazawa. Three different trains. The idea was to go up into the mountains to see the areas around Nagano and then the train to Kanazawa is along the coast so we could see some coastal towns on the Sea of Japan.
The vallleys and mountainsides were beautiful!
Then we arrived at Noetsu, which is a sleepy little town along the coast and when we switched trains to our final leg today.
Then the last leg along the coast was very reminiscent of California with the mountains leading down to the ocean. The train line hugs the coast for most of the way and allowed us to see exactly what we had hoped — here’s a nice view of the Japan Alps.
And then looking out the other side of the train we got a nice view of the Sea of Japan.
As we drew closer to Kanazawa the scenary started to show more trees, and they were just lovely.
