Japan is launching a new high-speed train, or shinkansen, extension on Saturday that will make an under-the-radar prefecture much more accessible to travelers.
The coastal Fukui Prefecture is located about 185 miles west of Tokyo. The new train will pass through the city of Fukui, the her city Awara drivers and other places rarely report before reaching the port city of Tsuruga, adding about 78 miles to the Hokuriku Shinkansen’s existing Tokyo-to-Kanazawa service.
Once launched on March 16, the route will open a door to a part of Japan – known for dinosaurs, Zen meditation and relaxing hot spring baths – where few international travelers go.
Jurassic Japan
Of all the stops on the new extension, Fukui is the best base for sightseeing in the prefecture.
Dinosaurs are one of the area’s main attractions, from the robotic replicas at Fukui Station to the local mascot, a smiling, green dino named Juratic, whose face is painted on souvenirs all over the city.
There is good reason for this. Almost 80% of Japan’s dinosaur fossils were discovered in Fukui, which Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama does a great job with details in Japanese and English.
Just under an hour from Fukui Station on the Katsuyama-Eiheiji rolling railway line, the cavernous museum houses a collection of relics and exhibits on the existence and death of dinosaurs, as well as life-size animatronics of a menacing Tyrannosaurus rex and a long-necked herbivore . Fossil digs at the connected Katsuyama Dinosaur Park add a hands-on element that’s especially suitable for families.
Finding Zen and hot springs
On the local train returning to Fukui, travelers interested in learning about Zen Buddhism can go to Eiheijiguchi Station to go to Eiheijitemple and monastery founded in 1200 by the legendary Zen priest and scholar Dogen.
Travelers with a few hours can explore the temple buildings, but it is also possible to schedule one overnight stay at the temple which includes options for zazen meditation sessions and traditional plant-based Buddhist meals.
A geisha walks through a performance hall in Awara, Japan.
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With an extra day in Fukui, another option is to take the new shinkansen to Awara for a spot of traditional pampering. Like many small hot spring towns in Japan, the reason most people visit Awara is to spend a night at a ryokan, where they soak in mineral-rich baths, wear yukata dresses, lounge in tatami rooms and indulge in kaiseki- ryori. dinners with a photogenic array of seasonal small plates.
But there’s plenty to do in Awara beyond the baths and ryokans, with hands-on experiences like glassblowing and ceramics at Kanaz Forest of Creation — a 200,000 square meter forest with art installations and hiking trails. Rural areas also have orchard picking — strawberries in the spring and blackberries, grapes and Asian pears in the summer.
The end of the line
The new shinkansen service ends in Tsuruga city. Arguably, there is less of a delay here, but those with a few hours to spare can visit a few distinct attractions accessible via the city bus.
Suishouhama Beach, near Tsuruga City.
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Kehi-no-Matsubara Coastal Pine Forest is a Nationally Designated Site of Scenic Beauty.
Also along the coast is the Port of Humanity Museum, which describes how Jewish refugees from Poland and Lithuania arrived in Tsuruga in the 1940s after being granted a special visa by Japanese diplomat Sugihara Chiune. It is estimated that Sugihara saved several thousand Jews from Nazi concentration camps.
Travelers can also follow in the footsteps of 17th-century haiku writer Matsuo Basho, who visited Tsuruga’s Kehi Jingu shrine to view the autumn full moon during a journey captured in the famous haiku travelogue “The Narrow Road to the Deep North “.
Kehi-no-Matsubara in Tsuruga, Japan.
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The shrine has been rebuilt several times since Basho’s visit, but the version he saw certainly left an impression. “The air of the sanctuary was hushed in the silence of the night,” he wrote, “and the moon through the dark pine needles shone brilliantly.”
While Basso left Tsuruga slowly to the south, today express trains run from Tsuruga to Kyoto in less than an hour, or southeast to Nagoya in 90 minutes. Travelers can also re-board the new shinkansen for the three-hour journey back to Tokyo.