Namerikawa city is Toyama City's neighbor towards the west. It is easily accessed by a local train from Toyama Station for a mere 320 yen. It is the definition of an ocean town. Upon arriving at Namerikawa you will be only a ten minute walk away from the seaside. The view is beautiful and for anyone who would like to just visit the ocean, I would recommend Namerikawa as one of the easiest routes. The main attractions for visitors to Namerikawa are Hotaruika Museum, the word hotaruika meaning firefly squid. The city also invested a lot of money to install a deep water ocean pump, there is a location to buy and view all of the products made with this notably healthy water. I am a big ocean lover and had yet to visit either of these places. I had a really great time on this venture. I am absolutely in love with firefly squid. I try to go see them every year, it is sad they are like cherry blossoms, and only visible for once a year.
The hotaruika are a phenomenon unique to only Toyama prefecture, they are sometimes viewable in other areas of Toyama but Namerikawa is definitely the most famous spot for catching a glimpse of this deep ocean phenomenon. Once a year, sometime in March,
the hotaruika have their babies and decide to come up to the beach and commit suicide.
It sounds a bit sad, but do not be mistaken it is truly unique and beautiful. The small squid wash up on the beach in droves on the right nights. It is like a blue light rave at the beach. It can get really crazy how many are viewable. People from Toyama assemble at
the beaches to capture the small squid before they hit the sand of the beach, throw them in a cooler, and eat them in various ways at home. This is something the rest of Japan and the rest of the world just don't get the chance to do. It is one of the phenomenon that make Toyama unique to the rest of Japan. I personally have seen it every year I have been to Japan and I am in love with it. It happens from 12-4 am and I don't like getting out of bed unfortunately.
Namerikawa took initiative. They built an entire museum of the firefly squid so everyone can enjoy the phenomenon year round. The real squid can only be seen in March,
but the museum is full of exhibits, artwork, and photography all dedicated to the little blue light squid. There are also numerous games, a movie theater, and models showing how
the squid are caught in a massive off shore net. I enjoyed in their small theater seeing all about the hotaruika. It showed how they were caught, eaten, and their importance in
the community. There is even a tour boat showing how the hotaruika are farmed every year. Unfortunately, I asked about tickets and getting them is really difficult as this phenomenon is quite famous in the area. There is a fun fishing game as well for children.
Upon entering the museum, there are several staff members who will greet you. After that was a walk up a cool pathway, it had beautiful blue lights and ocean sounds to replicate
the ocean atmosphere of Namerikawa. The museum has a great atmosphere, and appears to have been very expensive to make. We viewed beautiful photography of the squids and all their lights. Their lighting makes for some great picture you won't find on google images. After, we watched an informative mini documentary. You don't need to know any Japanese to enjoy the sheer strangeness of these little blue squid. We then made our way down to the exhibit hall and played numerous games, we saw how this squid compared in size to others in Japan, and we enjoyed taking a look at the nets they use to catch them. There is a pool filled with the squid during season in this area. It was out of season though, so they had numerous large crabs available to play with in the shallow pool. I was extremely scared to touch a large crab because of their claws, but it was really cool to see crabs just dancing about on the pool and not being eaten. This is a great museum to experience an exclusively Toyama experience.
It was then off to the deep ocean water pump place, Aqua Pocket. Walk along the coastline away from Toyama and you will find it quickly. The pump is almost 300 meters down. There are spouts to taste each variation of the water from different depths. Some water is saltier than salt itself I don't know how but wow it kicked me in the face with saltiness. There is also salinized water, and mineral water. This was some of the best water I have ever drank. It was so clean and crisp and I couldn't get enough. I truly think it was the best water I have drank. The deep ocean water is also made into salt through drying. It is expensive but delicious. We looked at the exhibits, the water is used for various health products throughout Japan, used for beers, and used for special aquariums. The water is also used to make delicious soy sauce available for purchase in Hotaruika Museum! So if you love the ocean and love amazing water, this is a really great close trip from Toyama City. There is also a spa that uses this special water located next to the museum if you want to try it out. Please go out to Namerikawa for some interesting fun, I promise you will enjoy it!