Japan launches bullet train service to a region that 'guidebooks rarely mention'

Japan is launching a new high-speed bullet train, or shinkansen, extension on Saturday that will make an under-the-radar prefecture far more accessible to travelers.

The coastal Fukui Prefecture is some 185 miles west of Tokyo. The new train will pass through the city of Fukui, thetown ofAwara and other places guidebooks rarely mention, before reaching the port town of Tsuruga, adding some 78 miles to the Hokuriku Shinkansen's existing Tokyo-to-Kanazawa service.

Once it begins on March 16, the route will open a door to a part of Japan — known for dinosaurs, Zen meditation and soothing hot-spring baths — where few international travelers go.

Of all the stops on the new extension, Fukui makes the best base for visiting the sights of the prefecture.

Dinosaurs are one of the area's main draws, from the robotic replicas at Fukui Station to the local mascot, a smiley, green dino named Juratic, whose face is emblazoned on souvenirs throughout the city.

There is good reason for that. Close to 80% of Japan's dinosaur fossils were discovered in Fukui, something the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Katsuyama does an excellent job of detailing in Japanese and English.

Just under an hour from Fukui Station on the trundling Katsuyama-Eiheiji rail line, the cavernous museum houses a collection of remains and exhibits on the existence and demise of dinosaurs, plus life-size animatronics of a menacing Tyrannosaurus rex and a long-necked herbivore. Fossil digs in the connected Katsuyama Dinosaur Park add a hands-on element that's especially well-geared for families.

On the local train back to Fukui, travelers interested in learning about Zen Buddhism can hop off at Eiheijiguchi Station to go to Eiheiji, a temple and monastery founded in the