Many of the Japanese prefectures that lie along the country's Japan Sea coast are some of the snowiest places on Earth: frigid winds blowing from Siberia pick up moisture as they cross the Sea of Japan, gets dropped as snowfall when the laden air hits the Japanese Alps.

Naturally, this makes the area an excellent destination for enjoying skiing and snowboarding. Another attraction, located in Toyama Prefecture on a section of roadway known as the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, is a snow canyon -- a place where the road runs between great sheer walls of snow. During some periods of the year you can even walk along part of it!

Getting to Murodo, the name of the place on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route where the snow canyon is located, is a fun adventure in itself. It's located east of the city of Toyama, the place where I was setting out from. The first leg involved a train ride from Dentetsu Toyama Station to Tateyama Station -- a trip of just over an hour.

Tateyama Station is located at the foot of Mount Tateyama, a peak rising to an altitude of 3,015 meters above sea level. From there we transferred to a funicular cable car, whose steep seven-minute ride to the mountain-slope station of Bijodaira travels 1.3 kilometers and climbs 500 meters in elevation at angles that in places reach 29 degrees.

At Bijodaira Station we boarded a bus to Murodo, our destination, 23 kilometers over mountain roads away. Barring delays due to weather conditions or the like, the trip usually takes about an hour.

As the winding road rose ever higher in elevation, I noticed that the snow along the sides grew progressively deeper. The views from the bus also include many glimpses of gorgeous alpine scenery.

The ride also included a bilingual video showcasing other mountains and sightseeing destinations along and near the Alpine Route.

　
The bus station at Murodo is big and spacious, with an information center offering multilingual materials and facilities that include restaurants, shops, and display areas devoted to the natural history and culture of the region. There's even a post office, and a hotel attached to the station.

Outside the station there are paths leading out into the snow as well as other things to see and places to explore.

These areas carved out of the snowpack are called "snow shelters."

From April 15 through June 22, one lane on a stretch of the snow-lined road from the station is closed off to vehicle traffic, and visitors can walk out into the "canyon" formed by the high walls of snow on either side. There's no charge to take part, and the walk out takes about ten minutes.

The section of the road is where the snow walls are at their tallest and most impressive, reaching heights of up to 16 meters!

Next to them, people and even buses look tiny.

A friendly fellow visitor -- a man from Wales traveling with an American -- was kind enough to take a photo of me.

You can spend as long as you like on the walk, so I spent a bit of time exploring this breathtaking place at my leisure before heading back toward the station.

Back at the station it's possible to take other buses farther east along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and see even more attractions, such as the Kurobe Dam, which is the tallest in Japan. In fact the route extends all the way to Nagano.

As it happened, though, my itinerary called for me to return to Toyama, so I got aboard the bus heading back to Bijodaira.

Our route took us through the very same snow canyon I had just walked through.

Then we passed the end of the pedestrian stretch and were mostly alone between the walls of snow.

Several transfers later, and I was back in Toyama.

What an amazing place the snow canyon is – I can't wait for the chance to check out more of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route!