The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route with snow walls up to 14 meters high opened in central Japan on April 15 for this year's tourism season.

The sightseeing highway in the Northern Alps is closed for the winter and reopens in the spring after workers cut through accumulated snow.
 

R/ Reporter / This is where the snow walls are the tallest. The sight is spectacular.
 

S/ Tourist / This is my first time here. It's great.

S/ Tourist / I'm glad I came.

S/ Tourist / It's not as cold as I thought. 
 

The area with the tallest snow walls was 1 meter higher than last year.The entire route connecting Toyama and Nagano prefectures is 37.2 kilometers long.

The operator of the Alpine Route expressed hope for more visitors to come from Japan and abroad.