This note follows the one on Heisei and covers the Reiwa era from May 2019 to October 2026, when it was written. For things still in progress (flights, repair work, exhibitions) it relies on the official pages as of October 2026. The focus is Kanazawa and Toyama, with Fukui, Tsuruga, Noto, and Kurobe as well.

In Reiwa Hokuriku, through tram service across Toyama Station began in 2020, and the Hokuriku Shinkansen was extended to Tsuruga in March 2024. The Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year’s Day 2024 was the worst disaster in the history of Ishikawa Prefecture, and floods struck Oku-Noto later the same year. Taiwan sent sympathy and donations after the Noto earthquake, and when an earthquake hit eastern Taiwan that April, Ishikawa and Toyama sent their own messages of sympathy.

Reiwa-era sites mentioned in this note. Sites that cover an area are shown by a representative point; markers open in Google Maps. Map labels are in Traditional Chinese. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO. ⚠ Please confirm with official sources before visiting.

1. Reiwa and Hokuriku

The era name changed to Reiwa on 1 May 20191. Kanazawa City’s chronology for these years lists the Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture in 2019, the city’s second main office building in 2020, the Kanazawa Future City Creation Hall in 2021, and Kanazawa Stadium in 20242.

Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, Kanazawa (2020)

Photo: J o, licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, resized and converted to WebP. Source: Wikimedia Commons

2. Trams at Toyama Station

Opening ceremony for the north–south tram link at Toyama Station (20 March 2020)

Photo: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, licence: CC BY 4.0, converted to WebP. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Toyama Light Rail and the city trams, described in the Heisei note, were joined inside Toyama Station on 21 March 2020, and through service between the north and south sides began. An opening ceremony was held on the station’s north–south concourse the day before; at the commemorative ceremony on the 21st, the mayor said that “the hundred-year dream of Toyama’s citizens” could be said to have come true3. On the opening day, restaurants and liquor shops in Iwase offered special menus and a sake brewery held tours3.

3. The Shinkansen Reaches Tsuruga

Hokuriku Shinkansen platforms at Tsuruga Fukui Station on the Hapi-Line Fukui opening day

The Hokuriku Shinkansen platforms at Tsuruga Station (left, May 2024) and Hapi-Line Fukui ticket gates at Fukui Station on opening day (right, 16 March 2024). Photos: Suikotei (left), eli fessler (right); licences: CC BY 4.0 (left), CC BY-SA 4.0 (right); resized and converted to WebP. Sources: Wikimedia Commons (left), Wikimedia Commons (right)

The Kanazawa–Tsuruga section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen was originally meant to open by the end of fiscal 2022. In November 2020 construction delays at Tsuruga Station and elsewhere came to light, the target was moved to the end of fiscal 2023, and the section opened on 16 March 20244. The parallel conventional line within Fukui Prefecture passed from JR West to the new Hapi-Line Fukui, which added trains and introduced rapid services5.

4. The Noto Peninsula Earthquake

Central Wajima after the Noto Peninsula earthquake (17 February 2024)

Photo: Hurohukidaikon, licence: CC BY 4.0, resized and converted to WebP. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Noto Peninsula earthquake of 1 January 2024 struck a depopulating, ageing peninsula with collapsed houses, a tsunami, fires, uplift, and liquefaction all at once. Ishikawa Prefecture’s earthquake archive, written in January 2025, gives 498 deaths including disaster-related deaths, about 110,000 homes damaged (more than 6,000 destroyed), and up to about 34,000 evacuees, and notes that just over eight months later the Oku-Noto floods caused major damage again. Disaster-related deaths continued to be certified, and by August 2026 the death toll across Ishikawa, Niigata, and Toyama stood at 7506.

The Noto Peninsula had also had a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in 2007 (see the Heisei note)7.

Toyama Prefecture set up channels for donations, relief goods, and gifts for the Noto earthquake8. The Japan Cartoonists Association held a charity auction for the victims from April to June 2025, in which 278 shikishi boards by 205 artists raised 120 million yen after costs for Ishikawa Prefecture. The prefecture noted that the association includes Nagai Go from Wajima, and said a “charity shikishi panel” combining all the boards would be placed from 17 October 2025 at 15 locations, including major sights in six Noto municipalities and the tourist information centre at Kanazawa Station9.

An earthquake struck off eastern Taiwan on 3 April 2024. At a press conference on 18 April, the governor of Ishikawa announced a disaster gift of 5 million yen for Taiwan and donation boxes at six places including the prefectural office, Kanazawa Castle Park, and Kenrokuen. He recalled that people from Taiwan had provided food and other help after the Noto earthquake and that the Taiwanese authorities had sent donations, adding, “when in trouble, we help each other”10. At a press conference on 10 April, the governor of Toyama said the prefecture had sent letters of sympathy to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka and the Taiwan Visitors Association and posted a message on the traditional Chinese page of its official tourism Facebook account; the 32 charter flights from Taipei between 15 April and 29 May were going ahead, the first of them on the day the Alpine Route opened for the season11.

The Toyama–Taipei scheduled flights that began in 2012, described in the Heisei note, were suspended in 2020 because of COVID-19. In 2026 the governor of Toyama announced that China Airlines would resume them from 20 August, twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, with 19 round trips up to 24 October on a 180-seat A321neo12. At the same press conference he said that about 400,000 people had used the route since it opened12.

6. The Kurobe Gorge Railway

Series 3100 carriages on the Kurobe Gorge Railway (2020)

Photo: Tail furry, licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, resized and converted to WebP. Source: Wikimedia Commons

After earthquake repair work, the Kurobe Gorge Railway resumed full service between Unazuki and Keyakidaira on 1 October 202613. A slope collapse upstream of Kanetsuri station and the Kanetsuri Bridge are still being repaired; because the retaining wall and slope below Keyakidaira station are under repair, the sightseeing area there is closed and visitors cannot go beyond the station building and visitor centre, and the number of passengers getting off at Keyakidaira is limited13.

7. Manga and Anime

The manga artist Ima Ichiko, from Himi in Toyama, debuted in 1993, began her best-known series Hyakki Yakōshō in 1995, and won an Excellence Award in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006. The Kōshi no Kuni Literature Museum is holding an exhibition on her work from 12 September to 23 November 202614.

To mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of Fujiko Fujio Ⓐ, who appeared in the Heisei note, Himi held the exhibition “Manga Michi: Toyama, and Setting Out” at the Shiokaze Gallery from 30 November 2024 to 10 March 2025, focusing on the Toyama years in his manga Manga Michi15.

The anime of Kabei Yukako’s novel 2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team, set in Fukui, was broadcast from January 2021 in Fuji TV’s Noitamina slot and elsewhere. Aoi Shōta, a voice actor from Fukui, voiced one of the main characters, and the prefecture used the series to promote itself16.

8. Places to Visit Today

Visitable facilities and sites related to this note. Markers open in Google Maps. Map labels are in Traditional Chinese. Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO. ⚠ Please confirm with official sources before visiting.
AreaPlaceTypeNotes
ToyamaTrams at Toyama StationTramThrough north–south service since 20203
ToyamaKōshi no Kuni Literature MuseumMuseumIma Ichiko exhibition 12 Sep – 23 Nov 2026; 9:30–18:00, closed Tuesdays14
KurobeKurobe Gorge RailwaySightseeing railwayFull service from 1 October 2026; at Keyakidaira only the station and visitor centre are open; Unazuki–Keyakidaira bookable online from 7 October13
KanazawaYoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of ArchitectureMuseumOpened 20192
TsurugaTsuruga StationStationHokuriku Shinkansen from 20244
HimiHimi Shiokaze GalleryMuseumPermanent display on Fujiko Fujio Ⓐ15

References

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia (Japanese), “Reiwa” (from 1 May 2019): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%A4%E5%92%8C ↩

  2. Kanazawa City, “Local chronology” (Taniguchi Museum of Architecture 2019; second main office 2020; Kanazawa Future City Creation Hall 2021; Kanazawa Stadium 2024): https://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/kohokochoka/gyomuannai/5/5/12/2048.html ↩ ↩2

  3. Toyama City, “Through tram service across Toyama Station has begun” (north–south link opened 21 March 2020; opening ceremony on the 20th; commemorative ceremony on the 21st where the mayor said “the hundred-year dream of Toyama’s citizens”; events in Iwase): https://www.city.toyama.lg.jp/shisei/koho/1010848/1010851/1002736.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Fukui Prefecture, “Route of the Hokuriku Shinkansen” (delay revealed November 2020; target end of fiscal 2023; Kanazawa–Tsuruga opened 16 March 2024): https://www.pref.fukui.lg.jp/doc/shinkansen/gaiyou/ru-to.html ↩ ↩2

  5. Fukui Prefecture, policy document (parallel conventional line within Fukui; start of the Hapi-Line Fukui; transfer from JR West; more trains and new rapid services): https://www.pref.fukui.lg.jp/doc/seiki/syuyouseisaku/syuyouseisaku_d/fil/R5_2023_3.pdf ↩

  6. Ishikawa Prefecture, “2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake Archive” (collapsed houses, tsunami, fires, uplift, liquefaction; 498 deaths including disaster-related deaths; about 110,000 homes damaged, over 6,000 destroyed; up to about 34,000 evacuees; Oku-Noto floods of 2024; written January 2025): https://noto-archive.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/introduction/ ; Kyodo News via Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun, “Noto earthquake deaths reach 750” (14 August 2026; 750 deaths across Ishikawa, Niigata, and Toyama): https://kumanichi.com/articles/2025261 ↩

  7. Ishikawa Prefecture, “Prefectural chronology 2007” (Noto Peninsula earthquake of 25 March 2007, M6.9): https://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/kouhou/nenpyo/h19-1.html ↩

  8. Toyama Prefecture, “Support for victims of the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake” (donations, relief goods, gifts): https://www.pref.toyama.jp/1902/bousaianzen/noto_jishin_shien.html ↩

  9. Ishikawa Prefecture, governor’s press conference, 16 October 2025 (Japan Cartoonists Association charity auction; 205 artists, 278 boards; 120 million yen donated; Nagai Go from Wajima; charity panel at 15 locations from the 17th): https://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/chiji/kisya/r7_10_16/1.html ↩

  10. Ishikawa Prefecture, governor’s press conference, 18 April 2024 (earthquake off eastern Taiwan; disaster gift of 5 million yen; donation boxes at six places; “when in trouble, we help each other”): https://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/chiji/kisya/r6_4_18/1.html ↩

  11. Toyama Prefecture, governor’s press conference, 10 April 2024 (letters to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka and the Taiwan Visitors Association; Visit Toyama traditional Chinese page; 32 charter flights from Taipei, 15 April – 29 May): https://www.pref.toyama.jp/kensei/governor/kishakaiken/r6nendo/060410.html ↩

  12. Toyama Prefecture, governor’s press conference (2026; Toyama–Taipei flights suspended in 2020 because of COVID-19; China Airlines from 20 August, Mondays and Thursdays, 19 round trips to 24 October, A321neo with 180 seats; about 400,000 passengers since April 2012): https://www.pref.toyama.jp/kensei/governor/kishakaiken/r08nendo/080629.html ↩ ↩2

  13. Kurobe Gorge Railway, “Resumption of full service and progress on repairs to the Kanetsuri Bridge and elsewhere” (full service from 1 October 2026; earthquake repair work; only the Keyakidaira station building and visitor centre accessible; limited numbers getting off; phone booking): https://www.kurotetu.co.jp/news-detail/?post=616 ; “Web booking site maintenance completed” (return tickets to Keyakidaira bookable online from 19:00 on 7 October 2026): https://www.kurotetu.co.jp/news-detail/?post=646 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Toyama Prefecture, “Advance tickets for the exhibition ‘The World of Manga Artist Ima Ichiko’” (from Himi; debut 1993; Hyakki Yakōshō from 1995; Japan Media Arts Festival award 2006; 12 September – 23 November 2026, 9:30–18:00, closed Tuesdays): https://www.pref.toyama.jp/1740/kensei/kouhou/houdou/2026/8gatsu/imaitiko_maeuri.html ↩ ↩2

  15. Himi City, press release (7 November 2024; exhibition “Manga Michi: Toyama, and Setting Out”, 30 November 2024 – 10 March 2025, Shiokaze Gallery; upgraded permanent display): https://www.city.himi.toyama.jp/material/files/group/1/newsrelease20241107.pdf ↩ ↩2

  16. Fukui Prefecture, “Collaboration with the anime 2.43: Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Team” (novel by Kabei Yukako, Shueisha; broadcast from January 2021 on Noitamina and elsewhere; Aoi Shōta from Fukui): https://www.pref.fukui.lg.jp/doc/brandeigyou/brand/anime243.html ↩