Tateyama Kurobe Kanko

Tateyama Kurobe Kanko (立山黒部貫光株式会社) is a Japanese company based in Toyama Prefecture that operates public transport and hotel businesses, chiefly the majority of the transport routes within the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and two hotels on Mount Tateyama. Its registered office is in the Toyama Chihō Railway building in Toyama City. The company states that it aims to deliver the grandeur of Tateyama Kurobe to people around the world, to walk together with the region as a supporter of an international mountain tourism destination, and to pursue sustainable growth while valuing employee pride and happiness. Its group includes Tateyama Kanko Terminal Co., Ltd. and Tateyama Kurobe Service Co., Ltd.

According to the company's official history page, Mount Tateyama is counted among Japan's three sacred mountains along with Mount Fuji and Mount Hakusan, and long revered as an object of worship; it came into the spotlight as a tourist destination in the early Taishō era, when plans were drawn up to use the water resources of the Kurobe River and the Jōganji River for hydropower. After the postwar reorganization of the electric power business in Shōwa 26 (1951), the Kurobe River system was assigned to Kansai Electric Power Co. and the Jōganji River system to Hokuriku Electric Power Co., and Toyama Prefecture formulated a comprehensive development plan with future power source development in view. As part of this plan, the Tateyama development plan was put into effect, and in April 1953 (Shōwa 27) Tateyama Kaihatsu Railway Co. (TKR) was established by three companies — Toyama Chihō Railway Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Hokuriku Electric Power Co. — for the purpose of developing tourist transport in the Tateyama mountain area. In line with Toyama Prefecture's planned automobile road between Bijodaira and Murodo, TKR opened the Tateyama Cable Car in August 1954, the Tateyama Kōgen Bus in July 1955 and the Midagahara Hotel in October 1956, operating transport and lodging businesses, working to develop and expand facilities for receiving tourists, and also contributing to power source development construction. With the start in earnest of Kansai Electric Power's Kurobe Dam construction and Hokuriku Electric Power's Arimine Dam power development, social demand grew for the completion of a large circular route through the Tateyama, Kurobe and Arimine areas; in March 1960 the Toyama Prefecture Tourism Business Council formulated the 'Tateyama Kurobe Arimine Area Tourism Development Plan', and based on this plan, in May of the same year Tateyama Kurobe Arimine Development Co. (TKA) was established to survey, construct and operate a through transport route between Senjugahara and Ōmachi in Nagano Prefecture. After two years of detailed surveys by TKA, it was decided that route development related to the power business would be entrusted to the power companies, the road from Senjugahara to Murodo would be shared by Toyama Prefecture, the Japan Highway Public Corporation, TKR and TKA, and the section linking Murodo and Kurobe Dam would be handled by Tateyama Kurobe Kanko Co., Ltd. (TKK), newly established in December 1964 through public-private cooperation. In November 1965 TKK began the great construction work between Murodo and Kurobe Lake, and TKA also began construction of the automobile road between Katsura-dai and Bijodaira. The work was extremely difficult, but the Kurobe Cable Car opened in July 1969, the Tateyama Ropeway in July 1970 and the Tateyama Tunnel Bus in April 1971, and on June 1 of that year the long-awaited international mountain tourism route 'Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route', directly linking Toyama and Ōmachi, opened along its entire line. During this period, Tateyama Kanko Terminal Co. (TKT) was established in December 1967, the Murodo Terminal Building was completed in full in August 1972, and Hotel Tateyama began operations in September of that year. In September 1987 Unazuki International Hotel opened with the aim of expanding wide-area tourism in the Tateyama Kurobe area, and in October 1990 Tateyama Kurobe Service Co. (TKS) was established to unify and streamline operations such as the transport of goods to Alpine Route-related companies and the supply of processed foods. In July 1994 the Midagahara Hotel reopened after renewal, and in April 1996, for nature protection and environmental conservation, the Tateyama Tunnel Bus (diesel bus) was converted to the Tateyama Tunnel Trolleybus, a railway business, achieving full electrification of the Murodo–Kurobe Lake section. On the remaining Bijodaira–Murodo section, hybrid buses were introduced sequentially from 1998. In October 2005, TKK and TKR, which had shared the founding purpose and business operations, merged with TKK as the surviving company, in order to stabilize the business base, improve management efficiency and strengthen the brand through the use of scale merits. Thereafter, to reduce environmental load, the Kōgen Bus was sequentially updated to clean diesel buses from 2015, and in Reiwa 7 (2025) the Tateyama Tunnel Electric Bus began operation in place of the Tateyama Tunnel Trolleybus. The company states that it suffered tremendous damage from the impact of the COVID-19 infection in Reiwa 2 (2020).

A supporter of an international mountain tourism destination, connecting people with the great nature of Tateyama Kurobe.

• Tateyama Cable Car

• Tateyama Kōgen Bus

• Kurobe Cable Car

• Tateyama Ropeway

• Tateyama Tunnel Bus / Tateyama Tunnel Trolleybus / Tateyama Tunnel Electric Bus

• Midagahara Hotel

• Hotel Tateyama

• Unazuki International Hotel

1. 1立山黒部貫光株式会社 – 立山黒部アルペンルートalpen-route.co.jp
2. 2会社の沿革 – 立山黒部貫光株式会社alpen-route.co.jp
3. 3会社情報 – 立山黒部貫光株式会社alpen-route.co.jp
4. 4グループ会社 – 立山黒部貫光株式会社alpen-route.co.jp
5. 5Tateyama Kurobe Kankowikidata.org
6. 6立山黑部貫光zh.wikipedia.org