Kanazawa & Toyama in 2 Days: Hanasaku Iroha's Bonbori Festival & Doraemon's Hometown

Pokémon Center Kanazawa

On the 5th floor of Kanazawa Forus, about a minute from the station's east exit, open roughly 10:00–20:00. Do it first: the Yuwaku bus leaves from bay 6 at the same exit, and the shop is the only official character store in Hokuriku.

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

Not anime, but the best thing in Kanazawa between trains, and the Loop Bus goes straight there. The exhibition zone runs 10:00–18:00, to 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, closed Mondays; the collection exhibition is about ¥450 for adults, free under 18, and the Kanazawa 1-Day Bus Pass gets you the group rate. Note that the museum has announced a long closure from May 2027.

Kanazawa Station → Yuwaku Onsen

Hokutetsu bus route 12, the Yuwaku Line, from bay 6 at the station's east exit: about ¥630 and roughly 50 min. A taxi is about ¥7,500 from the station, or about ¥4,000 and 20 min from Kenrokuen. There is no visitor parking in Yuwaku, and on the festival day cars without a permit cannot enter at all.

Yuwaku Onsen

The town is published as the model for Hanasaku Iroha. Official sources name the town rather than individual inns, so enjoy the hot-spring street as itself rather than hunting for a particular building. The public bathhouse, Soyu Shirasagi-no-Yu, runs 7:00–22:00 and costs about ¥490 for adults and ¥130 for elementary children, with a free foot bath next door open 9:00–21:00; both close on the third Thursday of the month.

Yuwaku Inari Shrine

The small shrine the Bonbori Festival is built around: the lanterns light the road so its god can set off for Izumo in the tenth month. The 14th festival's main day is Saturday, October 17, 2026. Anyone can walk the onsen street until 15:00, but from 16:00 you need a ticket unless you are staying the night or live there. Tickets are sold through the tourism association's own web shop; we could not read the price.

Back down to Kanazawa

The same bus, or stay the night in Yuwaku if you are here for the festival, when the last buses fill up. Kanazawa's Omicho Market and the Higashi Chaya district are the evening back in town.

Kanazawa → Takaoka

The simplest way is the local train straight through: IR Ishikawa Railway into Ainokaze Toyama Railway, about ¥870 and roughly 40 min, no change, about hourly through the middle of the day. The Hokuriku Shinkansen to Shin-Takaoka takes 13 min for about ¥2,880, but Shin-Takaoka is one Johana Line stop short of the town centre and Kagayaki trains do not stop there.

Doraemon Sanpomichi and the Doraemon Post

Both are at the station. Twelve bronze characters stand in the plaza in front of Wing Wing Takaoka, two minutes from the gates, with words from Fujiko F. Fujio on a board at Doraemon's feet. The postbox is inside the free north-south passage opposite the ticket gates, cast in Takaoka copperware: anything you post gets an original Doraemon postmark, except New Year cards. The current postmark design runs to November 30, 2026.

The Doraemon Tram

Manyosen runs a single blue tram painted as Doraemon, with the doors done as the Anywhere Door and 34 of his gadgets scattered inside. It has run since 2012 and does about eight round trips a day within the normal timetable, but it is out of service every Wednesday for inspection, so check the timetable PDF on the operator's site. Fares start at about ¥200; a 1-day pass is about ¥900 for adults and ¥450 for children, sold on board. Ride it out to Shikino-chugakko-mae for the gallery.

Fujiko F. Fujio Hometown Art Gallery

On the 2nd floor of the Takaoka Art Museum, 10 min on foot from the Shikino-chugakko-mae tram stop or 2 min from Etchu-Nakagawa on the JR Himi Line. Original Doraemon artwork, the creator's own things, a booklet he drew at fourteen, and a short film made for the Kawasaki museum. Open 9:30–17:00 with last entry at 16:30, closed Mondays; about ¥500 for adults, ¥300 for school students, ¥200 for children.

Doraemon's Vacant Lot, Otogi no Mori Park

About 7 km from the station, so take a bus or a taxi. The empty lot from the manga is recreated in the park with the characters standing in it, and you can look down on the scene from the observation tower in the Otogi no Mori-kan. The grounds and parking are free and always open; the indoor buildings run 9:00–17:00 and close on Tuesdays. Takaoka Kojo Park, back in town, has a brush-shaped bronze monument ringed by kappa drawn by 154 manga artists, including one by Fujiko F. Fujio and one by Osamu Tezuka.

Toyama and the glass museum

Twenty minutes east by train. Toyama has built its modern identity on glass, and the city's glass museum sits inside Kengo Kuma's TOYAMA Kirari building, about 12 min from Toyama Station on the city tram. It runs 9:30–18:00 with last entry 30 min before, closes on the first and third Wednesdays, and the collection exhibition is about ¥200, free for high school students and under. It has no anime connection at all: it is here because it is the best hour in the city.

Back to Kanazawa

Shinkansen from Toyama, about 18 min, or the local line back the way you came. Toyama Bay's white shrimp and firefly squid are what to eat before you go.