Kurobe Dam

Last Saturday, we visited Kurobe Dam, the biggest dam in Japan situated at Tateyama heights.

This dam was built in the mid 60s to provide hydro electricity for the surrounding areas.

The tedious project took years to complete and claimed more than 200 lives.


With the completion of Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, linking Toyama and Nagano Prefectures, Tateyama's heights is easily accessible to tourists from mid April to end November each year.

After arriving at the first station by trolley bus, we have to climb up 220 steps. We took a rest at the 120th step, panting due to lack of daily exercise.


The huge man-made dam was beyond imagination.

Blessed with good weather, a rainbow was created by the water spraying from the dam.

Next, we took the underground cable car to our second station at Kurobedaira. (altitude 1828m)

The station is jammed with eager tourists, mostly waiting to get on the ropeway.

Due to the high passenger volume, we were unable to get on the ropeway to the third station at Daikanbo.

The staff distributed queue numbers and with this queue ticket, we were free to move around waiting for our turn without having to stand in the queue.


We ate our lunch at a soba shop nearby and loitered around taking photos.

This is the best time to visit as the leaves are at their most colourful.


The stunning autumn scenery made us forget about the long waiting time.

I have never seen the mountain look so beautiful before.

After waiting for more than an hour, our queue numbers were finally called out.













The ropeway ride between Kurobedaira and Daikanbo was the highlight of the Alphen route as passengers could enjoy a 360 degrees panoramic view of the mountains.

Unfortunately, it`s very crowded inside the ropeway. We were unable get a good view because two Japanese women were blocking us.


I wished they were kind enough to shift a little so we could enjoy the scenery too.

Anyway, Takashi held the camera high up and managed to take this picture from the ropeway.


Murodo plateau (altitude 2450m) is the final station of our trip.

The temperature dipped to only 5 degrees and it was foggy and slippery.

Suddenly we were experiencing winter in October!


Luckily we were fully geared with thick jackets.

I saw this Taiwanese girl wearing slippers walking on the snow. Her poor toes must be freezing.

We left Tateyama heights at around 5pm, tired after all the waiting and walking. But, this is all worthwhile for the breathtaking picturesque scenery.