Running Away from the Hostel

November 7, 2025 - stay another night in Murodo for hiking and enjoying the high mountain environment.

I couldn't take it one more night.

After a failed attempt at stargazing, I went back to bed (not sleep) until about 5:30 when my two roommates decided to have a conversation in normal voices while they packed. 

Breakfast was excellent- homemade yogurt with homemade apricot jam, homemade pickle, dim sum, etc

I met Kikyru , one of my roommates who will climb the 3 peaks today with an ice axe (no poles). She pointed out a route for me which maybe I can do will spikes. I saw her later on the slopes and she wasn't able to make it up - she said it was too windy and cold.

Did hike with the guys from Singapore. One had never seen snow before, so this was quite an adventure for him.

Here's a video of shots from my 3 mile hike - no poles and at least some longer spikes.

Decided to get to Toyama a day early- no reason to stay in Morodo given I couldn't hike anywhere else (and that the bed was too hard). This would give me more time to tour Toyama which was getting a short shrift in the original itinerary.

The route down from Murodo was less interesting than the route up. The cable car was being repaired, so it was all via bus.

Here's the cable car that was being re-furbished. More like a funicular....

It was a lovely road down with a lot of turns.

We got out of snow zone and back into autumn.

There was quite a lot of volcanic activity in Daira and the trails closed. Here is the view

That might have been the reason for such a strong sulphur smell in Murodo. We saw Shomyo falls the highest in Japan.

There were also a lot of Tatayama Cedar trees lining the road on the way down.

There was a 45 minute wait before the train so went to see the caldera museum which was free and not worth the price - I thought it would be all about the volcano, but was more about the general area. No photos.

The local train to Toyama felt like a throwback and was kind of fun. It went through several small and old villages.

The Crowne Plaza was heavenly after the hostel.

This hotel was right across from the castle which really looked nice after dark.

In addition, I got 2 free tram rides, decided to go to the Izawa District for dinner.

The Izawa District is a very old area in Toyama that has been restored to its Edo Period. The only problem was I couldn't find it. I was expecting a large area, but it turned out to be about 2 blocks long (see tomorrow). Since this is where the restaurants were, it was obviously wrong decision and a waste of time and free tram rides. I went back to the central part of the city and found Mazu Sushi online. I was able to get there just before last ordered and it was a wonderful option. Arriving late probably meant I didn't have to deal with long lines, so silver lining to the story.

I ended up having a dish called Toyama Sushi. This was 10 rolls of local fish and it was wonderful. The chef took pity on me and cut each roll in half to make it easier for me to eat with the chopsticks. I enjoyed it more because I had no idea what fish I was eating, so it all tasted great.