Haruna Lake horse tours resume
Haruna Lake has restarted lakeside horse‑carriage tours featuring a horse named ‘Kantarou,’ with recent social posts showing the scenic rides and local photos (x.com). The revived carriage program is positioned as a gentle, photogenic way to experience the lakeside landscape (x.com).
Horse-drawn tours are running again at Lake Haruna, putting Kantarou, a longtime draft horse at the resort lake, back on the road for the spring season. (gunma-kanko.jp) The carriage ride, known locally as the “Tote Basha,” operates from April to November and usually runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. around the lakeside at Haruna in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. (gunma-kanko.jp) Gunma’s official tourism site says the standard round trip between the Haruna tourist information area and the ropeway station takes about 20 minutes, with fares listed from 500 yen to 2,500 yen depending on the course. (gunma-kanko.jp) Haruna’s tourism association describes the carriage as one of the lake’s signature attractions, alongside the sightseeing boat, and says the name comes from brass horns once sounded as the carriages rolled by in the Taisho era. (harunavi.jp, harunavi.jp) Kantarou is not a new addition. A feature published by Gunma’s tourism bureau in October 2024 said he came from Obihiro, Hokkaido, at age 3, weighed about 900 kilograms, and was 20 years old at the time. (gunma-kanko.jp) That same feature said Haruna once had about 11 horse carriages operating around the lake, but the number had fallen to one. It also said the service is closed from December to March, making April the usual return point after winter. (gunma-kanko.jp) Lake Haruna sits at about 1,084 meters above sea level inside the Haruna volcanic caldera, and local tourism officials promote the ride as a way to see seasonal scenery including spring blossoms, fresh greenery, summer lake views, and autumn foliage. (gunma-kanko.jp) Haruna’s tourism association was posting fresh lake updates on April 13, 2026, including daffodil conditions around the shore, a sign that the area’s spring visitor season is already underway as the carriage service resumes. (harunavi.jp) For visitors, the restart means one of Lake Haruna’s oldest slow-moving attractions is back in service: a single carriage, a single horse, and a 20-minute loop through one of Gunma’s best-known resort landscapes. (gunma-kanko.jp, harunavi.jp)
