Japan's Toyama Prefecture is located on the Japan Sea coast north of Nagoya, and offers a range of distinctive locally loved specialties for visitors to enjoy.

I got there by train via Kanazawa, arriving a little before noon and hungry for lunch! It wasn't long before I found the first example of local fare: a noodle shop just across the street from the station offering a special kind of ramen noodles known as "Toyama black."

This ramen gets its name from the dark color of its broth. Originally prepared for fisherman and other laborers, the soup is generally fish-based but also contains a large amount of soy sauce, making it very strongly flavored.

Wow!

Because the taste is so strong, many places that serve Toyama black ramen also offer what's called "soup wari" – broth that's milder in flavor that you can add to lessen the intensity. Just ask the restaurant staff.

The shop I visited also had a little bottle of vinegar at every seat that I was told was for the same purpose of altering the flavor for diners daunted by the original intensity.

And if you do manage to drink all the soup, you might even find some words of wisdom on the bottom of your ramen bowl!

"When love acts, it makes the impossible possible."

Thanks to its proximity to the Sea of Japan, Toyama also offers a rich variety of wonderfully fresh and tasty seafood. One item that the region is especially famed for is hotaru ika, or firefly squid – a small-sized squid that happens to be bioluminescent: it can create flashes of light that it uses to attract the small fish it feeds on.

Another marine specialty of the region is shiro-ebi – Japanese glass shrimp. Nicknamed "the jewels of Toyama Bay," these small shrimp are a lovely translucent pink in color.

I had no trouble finding a sushi restaurant that carried both of these local specialties on the menu. This place happened to be a conveyor-belt sushi shop, where you can either grab plates of appealing items off the conveyor belt as they pass, or write down your order on a provided slip and hand it to a staff member.

The colors of the plates indicate the price. A helpful guide in English explains the system.

The boiled firefly squid were deliciously tender, and prepared with a tangy sauce of white miso and vinegar that brings out the flavor.

The glass shrimp were uncooked, and came with a dollop of grated ginger that accented the delicate sweetness of the shrimp. The sushi was also wrapped in a soft sheet of thinly shaved kombu (giant kelp) instead of the tougher black nori that's usually used for this kind of sushi. Exquisite!

Curry udon is a noodle dish that Toyama is known for.

At most places that offer it, the roux is thick and rich, but not overly spicy. If you want more kick, look for a container of red-pepper flakes at your table. At this place, the container was shaped like a little gourd.

Toyama and other prefectures along the Japan Sea coast are also known for their sake. The varieties found here tend to be light and crisp – not as heavy and sweet as kinds from some other parts of Japan. I happened to find a shop a couple blocks from Toyama Station that sold small-portion samples of its offerings, so you can try them before buying a full bottle.

Thanks to this system, I discovered a few novel new sakes to take back home!

I also took a streetcar to the neighboring city of Imizu to visit Bridge Bar, a new bar-restaurant whose Western-born proprietor and Japanese staff make a point of serving regional sakes and food dishes made using local ingredients.

One new (to me) offering I got to try was kuro-zukuri. It resembles shiokara – a salt-cured and fermented preparation of squid flesh and entrails – but also includes the squid's ink, giving it a jet-black color. It paired splendidly with a local sake called Tateyama.

Back in Toyama City, I dropped by a place that specializes in boxed masuzushi – a regional variety of pressed sushi made using pink trout – to pick up some to enjoy later.

Back in my room, I unwrapped the big disk of fish and rice, and used the knife that came with it to cut the sushi into manageable wedges.

They didn't last long!

I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion to Toyama, and hope to come back again soon to try more of the tasty regional treats the prefecture is known for!