Speeding off to the hot springs

The tourism industry in Ishikawa Prefecture is hoping that the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line on March 14 will help bring more visitors from the Tokyo metropolitan area to its hot spring resorts.

Long considered a relaxing getaway for residents in the Kansai region, Ishikawa Prefecture has an abundance of good hot spring resorts. With the opening of the new super-express train line, the trip from JR Tokyo Station to JR Kanazawa Station can be covered in two hours and 28 minutes – an hour and 20 minutes less than the time needed now. 

The new travel time will be almost the same as that from JR Osaka Station to Kanazawa Station.With only six months left before its opening, Ishikawa’s tourism industry is undertaking a variety of public relations campaigns targeting the 40 million people living in the metropolitan area.

In the next six months before the opening, East Japan Railway Co and West Japan Railway Co will test controls over multiple trains running simultaneously. A more detailed operation schedule will be announced around December.

Currently, Ishikawa Prefecture is connected with the Kansai region by Thunderbird limited express trains that run between Kanazawa and Osaka stations in two hours 34 minutes at the fastest.

Of the prefecture’s annual 11 million visitors, 2.59 million came from the Kansai region and 2.42 million from the metropolitan area in 2012.

However, since the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line will make travel times from the two regions almost equal, the prefecture is now aiming to attract 5 million tourists from the Tokyo metropolitan area next year, twice the current figure.

The prefecture has even estimated the economic effects of the new line to be equivalent to 12.1 billion yen (US$111 million), marking a historical turning point that would raise the status of the Hokuriku region, where the prefecture is located.

Travellers from Tokyo typically use the Joetsu Shinkansen line from Tokyo Station to JR Echigo-Yuzawa Station, where they transfer to a limited express train. But it takes nearly four hours to reach Kanazawa Station on this route. 

Apparently due to the long travel time, 60 per cent of visitors to the prefecture arrive by plane. Though there are one-hour flights from Haneda Airport to Komatsu Airport in the prefecture, air travellers must spend an additional 40 minutes on a bus from the airport to Kanazawa’s city centre. The inconvenience has long been blamed for making Tokyo visitors think twice about travelling to Kanazawa.

Tsuyoshi Takemoto of Kinki Nippon Tourist Individual Tour Co, who oversees the Hokuriku region, said: “Demand for a Shinkansen line, which doesn’t require changing trains, is high [in the metropolitan area]. The Kanto region will be a bigger PR target than the Kansai region.”

 

Stepping up hospitality

Kagaya, a ryokan inn famous for its hospitality in the Wakura hot spring resort on the Noto Peninsula, hired 67 people this spring, almost double last year’s figure, in anticipation of the Hokuriku Shinkansen’s opening.

An association of inns in the resort held a three-day seminar on hospitality for the first time to help train the new employees. The association also plans to offer a full array of services including bus tours to historic sites.

Takanobu Oda, chairman of the association, said they aim to have 1.2 million tourists a year, 1.5 times more than the current number, after opening. “This is a once-in-a-century opportunity,” he said. “We want to welcome tourists with great hospitality.”

Meanwhile, JR West plans to offer round trips on a special tourist train between Kanazawa and Wakuraonsen stations twice daily on 150 days a year, starting in October next year, to attract more tourists from the metropolitan area. The train’s interiors are luxuriously decorated with Wajima lacquer and gold leaf. The train will also offer Japanese-style compartments as well as seats facing each other, while Japanese confectionery and a set of sake bottles will be available for purchase.

Moreover, the prefecture is set to open a satellite shop in Tokyo’s Ginza district on October 8 to enhance its promotional efforts.

Toyama Prefecture, which neighbours Ishikawa Prefecture, has high expectations for the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line, too.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen will cut down the travelling time from Tokyo to the Unazuki hot spring resort in Kurobe by more than one hour to less than three hours.

“People in the Kanto region still see the Hokuriku region as a faraway, snowy place,” said Katsumi Nakajima, who heads an association of inns in the hot-spring resort. “But it will be an opportunity to promote tourism [in our region].”

The Kurobe municipal government will promote itself in Tokyo, where it will exhibit its culinary specialities, which include trout sushi and kamaboko fish sausage, starting this autumn.

The Kagayaki super-express train, which connects Kanazawa Station with Tokyo in 2 hours 28 minutes, is scheduled to make 10 round trips a day, while the Hakutaka super-express train, which stops at more stations, will make 14 round trips, according to a plan announced by JR East and JR West. The trains will make a combined total of 24 round trips between Tokyo and Kanazawa stations.

Meanwhile, the Asama super-express, which will connect with the Hokuriku Shinkansen, will reduce the number of round trips between Tokyo and Nagano stations from 27 at present to 16.