Where you're staying.
A port first. The railway came later.
The town sits at the head of Tsuruga Bay, with mountains on three sides and the bay opening north to the Sea of Japan.
Kelp came south from Hokkaido by ship, was processed here, and went on to Kyoto and Osaka through Lake Biwa. Tsuruga still produces about 85% of Japan's oboro kombu — kelp shaved into paper-thin sheets.
Kagura
The covered shopping street in front of the shrine. The roof carries on most of the way back to the station. Confectioners, kelp shops, a bedding store.
Kehi Jingu
One of the three great wooden torii gates in Japan. It sits on an ordinary intersection, with the mountains right behind it.
Honmachi
Where the bars are. Some stay open until three in the morning.
Kanegasaki
The hill above the port, looking back over the town and the mountains behind it.
Kehi no Matsubara
The town’s beach, at the head of Tsuruga Bay. Beach houses in summer. Behind the sand, a kilometre and a half of pines — one of the three great pine groves in Japan.
Through the year
Spring
In April the hill above the port turns to cherry blossom. At the shrine there, people meet and exchange branches of it — those who do, they say, stay happy together.
Summer
The pine grove becomes a beach, with huts on the sand. August is the brightest month of the year, and one night lanterns go out onto the bay and the fireworks follow.
Autumn
In early September six floats come through the streets, each carrying a warrior in real armour; the festival runs for two weeks. In October, boats carry musicians onto the bay, for the autumn leaves and the moon.
Winter
Snow comes off the sea and settles on the harbour and the torii, and the port is lit from November until Christmas. In January hundreds of people pull on a fifty-metre rope to find out whether the year will bring fish or rice.
Dates change each year. The tourism association keeps them: Spring · Summer · Autumn · Winter
The city's own map
127 spots, in Japanese, English and Chinese. Made by Tsuruga City.
Where to stay
The tourism association keeps a list of the hotels, ryokan and minshuku in town — about fifty. The list is in Japanese. Most browsers can translate it.