The Answer: High Mountains, and a Plain Close By
Why does Toyama's water taste so good? The story of food in this region begins with travelers startled by a simple glass of water set down at a diner. To give the answer first: because the distance between 3,000-meter mountains and the plain is so unusually short.
Snow that falls on the Tateyama mountain range melts slowly from spring into summer, seeps into the ground to become subterranean water, and makes its way down to the plain. Where the mountains are this high and the road to the lowlands this short, the water arrives beside everyday life still cold and clear. Much of the prefecture's water is carried by this system, so saying that Tateyama waits at the end of the tap is hardly an exaggeration.
Water That People Travel to Draw
The quality of this water has long been recognized from outside as well. The spring waters of the Kurobe River alluvial fan are listed among Japan's 100 Exquisite Waters, and other springs dot the prefecture. In some districts, such as Ikuji in Kurobe, spring water still flows at communal water places in the middle of town, and locals walking over with containers to draw water are not an unusual sight in Toyama. Water you go out to draw rather than buy — that alone tells you where water stands in this region.
Rice, Sake, Fish: All the Same Story of Water
And this water does not end with one glass. Good water grows the rice of the plain, and brewing water from the same system turns that rice into local sake. The mountains' water runs down the rivers into Toyama Bay and on into the world of the bay's fish. The rice is good, the sake is good, the fish is good — on a trip they sound like separate impressions, but trace them on a map and the root is a single system of water. Winter yellowtail, shiroebi (white shrimp), masu-zushi (pressed trout sushi), the local sake — every story about food in Toyama can be read as a continuation of this one.
That is why the first drink on the day you arrive in Toyama should be water, not tea or sake. Set down your bags, then pour a glass in the kitchen. If you catch a faint sweetness behind the cold, your traveler's palate is ready. Everything about food in this region starts from there.