Takachiho Amaterasu Railway
To accommodate growing interest in the district and its traditions, such as its kagura shrine dances, the Takachiho Amaterasu Railway began offering special train tours of local sights in 2017. The single, 30-passenger capacity diesel-driven Super Grand Cart train takes visitors on a 30-minute, 2.5- kilometer ride through tunnels and into landscapes that include Ama no Iwato Shrine, Aratate Shrine, and the Takachiho rice terraces (recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System by the United Nations in 2015). The highest point of the journey is atop the 353-meter-wide Takachiho Iron Bridge. At 105 meters high, this span was for a time Japan’s highest-elevation railway bridge. The train’s glass floor allows heart-stopping views of the gorge below. The train departs every 40 minutes, offering 10 trips daily (except Thursdays). But journeys may be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.