Toyama Prefecture boasts magnificent nature in the heart of Japan. It is in the first place well-known for the Tateyama mountain range and the Kurobe Gorge and Dam. Takaoka, a town of iron smiths, also boasts Zenryuji, a great Zen temple of National Treasure class. In Gokayama one finds a World Heritage site with impressive folk houses. Tonami is famous for its tulips. Toyama's foods are masu-sushi (trout sushi), buri (yellowtail), kamaboko (fish paste) and hotaruika (small firefly squid) - all caught in the Bay of Toyama.

Toyama Prefecture abounds in excellent water as snow from the Tateyama mountain range of the northern Alps melts and flows into the region.

Toyama is also well-known as a rice harvesting area. Of old the sakamai (special rice for sake) of Toyama is "Gohyakumangoku," of which production is the highest after Niigata and Fukui; much of it is sold to breweries outside Toyama. A new variant of sakamai is ?Oyama Nishiki,? a cross between "Omachi" and "Miyama Nishiki." Breweries in Toyama use a high percentage of special sake rice, including also ?Yamada Nishiki? from Hyogo.
Sake from Toyama is dry, elegant and smooth, close in style to Niigata. Not surprisingly, master brewers are often from the Echigo guild.

There 19 active sake breweries in Toyama (2015), the smallest number in Hokuriku, but two of those breweries are among the country's 50 largest.

Some of the major breweries are:
Masuizumi (Masuda Shuzoten, ...