Hokuriku Shinkansen service extends to Kanazawa

「北陸新幹線」まもなく開業　ホームでは出発式
The Hokuriku Shinkansen service will be extended from the current terminal of Nagano Station to Kanazawa Station in Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday, cutting travel time between Tokyo and Kanazawa stations by about 80 minutes to as little as two hours and 28 minutes.

With the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, the city of Kanazawa expects visitors from the metropolitan area to increase, and a number of development projects are underway, creating a festive mood in the city. The Ishikawa prefectural government has set a goal of roughly doubling the number of tourists from the metropolitan area to reach 5 million.

A number of hotels and condominium buildings have been constructed in recent years in Kanazawa. According to the Development Bank of Japan, the economic effects of the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen would be around ¥12.4 billion per year in the prefecture.