“Railway Across the Sea ~ One Ticket Journey Tsuruga~” is a historical and cultural tour that allows participants to relive the history of the Eurasian International Express—which once connected Japan and Europe—by walking through actual railway and port heritage sites.
Its most distinctive feature is that it allows visitors from Europe and the United States to experience Tsuruga’s history through the lens of its “connections with Europe”—a perspective that feels familiar to them. In the past, Tsuruga served as a gateway for international transportation, with routes extending from Tsuruga Port to Vladivostok and onward to Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Furthermore, the city has deep ties to modern and contemporary European and American history, as evidenced by the arrival of Jewish refugees in Tsuruga during World War II.
The “Legacy Walk,” the centerpiece of the tour, takes you along the former Tsuruga Port Line tracks, to Izumi no Shimizu, the Tsuruga Red Brick Warehouse, the Tsuruga Museum: Port of Humanity, and the former Tsuruga Port Station ramp house. Rather than visiting each site individually, you’ll walk the route as part of a single narrative: “From Japan to the World, and from the World to Tsuruga.”