Tsuruga

Tsuruga is a port city on the Sea of Japan coast in Fukui Prefecture, historically significant as a gateway between Japan and the Asian mainland. During World War II, the city was one of the last ports where Jewish refugees arrived after crossing Siberia on transit visas issued by diplomat Chiune Sugihara. The Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum tells this story, housed in a reconstructed transit warehouse on the waterfront. Kehi Shrine, one of the oldest shrines in the Hokuriku region, has a large red torii gate near the city centre that dates to 1645. The Tsuruga Red Brick Warehouse, a pair of restored early-20th-century warehouses, now houses a restaurant and a diorama museum. Echizen crab, harvested from the cold Sea of Japan, is the flagship local seafood and is in season from November to March. The city is quieter than most cruise ports, with limited English signage, but the history and the crab make it worth the stop.