Kanazawa is waking up to the benefits the new Hokuriku Shinkansen Line may bring, adapting tourism-related resources to cater better to foreigners.

Opened this past weekend, the line links Tokyo with the city in Ishikawa Prefecture, where authorities are busy trying to improve a range of areas, from safety to the comfort of non-Japanese tourists.

The Ishikawa Prefectural Police is assigning female officers fluent in foreign languages, including English, Russian and Portuguese, to JR Kanazawa Station to assist foreigners in need of help.

In response to nightclub and hostess-bar touts soliciting passers-by, sometimes by grabbing them forcefully, the prefectural government issued an ordinance last June against disturbing the public peace — a prohibition that bans street touting.

Kanazawa has many charms for tourists. A historic city, it escaped World War II largely unscathed, and officials expects a surge in the number of foreign visitors making use of the speedy new bullet train services.

The prefectural government has revised some 580 English-language street signs and travel information boards to make them easier to understand. As the Japanese word "onsen" is widely understood among foreigners, the word "spa" has been swapped for the native version, and the famed Kenrokuen — designated as one of Japan's Three Most Beautiful Gardens — has been changed to Kenrokuen Garden. Signs for Kanazawako have been amended to Kanazawa Port.

Meanwhile, authorities also aim to improve services for people with disabilities.

Four local hearing-impaired residents have spent the past year studying traditional arts and local history, and will in April begin working as sign-language-capable tour guides.

The city hopes the hearing-impaired guides will help tourists "enjoy Kanazawa's spirit of hospitality," said an official in the Kanazawa Municipal Government's welfare division.