A scenic road in the mountains of Toyama Prefecture, in central Japan, has reopened to traffic.

The Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route is known for its spectacular walls of snow.

They rise up to a height of 15 meters in some places, despite lower-than-average snowfall in the region.

Local authorities are hoping to attract 1 million visitors, a figure that was last attained in 2010.

Last year, the number of tourists from Taiwan topped 100 thousand for the first time.

Flights connecting Taipei and Toyama will run on a daily basis until the end of May.