Japan: Chiba

Showing posts with label Chiba. Show all posts

Monday, 30 March 2015

The Kominato Line, Chiba.

For the lyrics see here: http://www.jpopasia.com/lyrics/21990/ayumi-hamasaki/haru-yo-koi.html

Inspired by the video above of Yumi Matsutoya's Haru Yo Koi, and with an ever abiding fondness for local trains, Friday was set aside as a day to ride the Kominato sen. I went on the first year I came to Japan, when Hiro & I went on a cycling trip through Chiba in the middle of summer (starting in the mountains.... what we were thinking...) I have little recollection of the train though.. the memories of salt patches from the copious amount of sweat remain vivid...

Anyway, back to the Kominato sen... It's a one and sometimes two carriage train that starts from Goi on the west coast of Chiba. It used to be part of the JR network before the grand breakup in the 1980s and now it's a third party local line, like the much less profitable Akita Nairiku sen. Admittedly it was spring holidays and the flowers are out, but I was surprised, at least compared to the Nairiku line, how many people were taking the train. They were mostly joy riders - but not all - and it's probably enough people to keep the line from being akaji (in the red).
http://www.kominato.co.jp/

Like a lot of rural lines the Kominato line runs infrequently. The second train of the day leaves Goi at 9:29. The one after that at 12:36. Planning is necessary, but there is still some scope for flexibility. The timetable below is a little misleading - the arrival and departure times are noted as the same however the train stopped for a generous 4 minutes at Satomi station and many passengers got out to take photos.

GOI		09:29		12:36	0.0km
KAZUSAMURAKAMI	09:33	09:33	12:40	12:40	2.5km
AMAARIKI	09:37	09:37	12:45	12:45	5.4km
KAZUSAMITSUMATA	09:41	09:41	12:48	12:48	7.2km
KAZUSAYAMADA	09:44	09:44	12:51	12:51	8.6km
KOFUDAI(CHIBA)	09:48	09:48	12:55	12:55	10.6km
UMATATE	09:51	09:51	12:59	12:59	12.4km
KAZUSAUSHIKU	09:57	09:57	13:05	13:05	16.4km
KAZUSAKAWAMA	10:01	10:01	13:08	13:08	18.5km
KAZUSATSURUMAI	10:04	10:04	13:11	13:11	20.0km
KAZUSAKUBO	10:07	10:07	13:15	13:15	22.0km
TAKATAKI	10:10	10:10	13:18	13:18	23.8km
SATOMI	10:18	10:18	13:25	13:25	25.7km
ITABU	10:22	10:22	13:29	13:29	27.5km
TSUKIZAKI	10:26	10:26	13:33	13:33	29.8km
KAZUSAOKUBO	10:30	10:30	13:38	13:38	32.3km
YOROKEIKOKU	10:35	10:35	13:43	13:43	34.9km
KAZUSANAKANO	10:42		13:49		39.1km

You may notice that many of the station names are Kazusa....

Kazusa was the old domain name for central Chiba.

Wikipedia has a little more on it.

It's nanohana - canola - season on the line at the moment, and although we were too early for the sakura, and we didn't get as far as YoruKeikoku (we would have but for the fact we believed a road sign over google maps...) the nanohana and bucolic charm of the line made for a very relaxing day out. The missed turn wasn't in vain either as we had the good fortune to meet a very hospitable local who invited us in for coffee!

Yorukeikoku is probably the most "famous" place in Chiba for autumn leaves and it's a good excuse to go back. Next time, perhaps taking the Kominato line to the end and changing to the Isumi line train which goes through to the Pacific coast.

Most of the line is single track, with a few stations where trains can pass.

We backtracked to Kazusa Tsurumai

We met this groups of sketchers earlier in the day at Tsukizaki. Sketching is a popular hobby in Japan. It's quite common to see primary school children out in the neighbourhood sketching.
Perhaps practice is the reason, but I have no doubt the average Japanese person is more skillful
at drawing than the average Australian. In fact, I rarely meet people here who say "I can't draw".
It's a bit like saying "I can't walk" - everyone can do it unless they have a certifiable disability.

Canola looking beautiful against the clear blue sky.

Kazusa Tsurumai

At Tsukizaki station - a map for hiking in the Yoru Keikoku area

Kazusa Okubo

The canola on this line is more like floral decoration. In Australia people plant it in huge paddocks.
I assume the variety in Aus has been altered to allow for more oil production. Here it seems to be more commonly eaten as a green vegetable. The flower seems to be proportionally much less.

Tsukizaki. A large group of photographers gather to greet the train. Some of the crowd had obnoxiously unnecessary tripods - I came to understand why some places ban the use of tripods.

Tsukizaki station

Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Happy Marine Day

The weekend that just passed was Marine Day. Marine day is a new holiday but the date was chosen because it marks the first time that an emperor of Japan travelled on a civilian steamship.
We took the opportunity to go biking to Chiba, the coastal prefecture east of Tokyo.
The wind was strong and the water not really suited to swimming - there has been extensive flooding and the water quality was less than it usually is here. But it was a pleasant day. And it's so nice to see sunshine.

Fishing boats in port

Fishing nets to go with the fishing boats

Looking north from the Choshi light house on Inobosaki Cape

Looking down from in front of the lighthouse

The Lighthouse

Fishing on Kujukuri Beach

Kujukuri beach... I really dont get it why the carpark needs to be built on the beach, same for the steps. According to Hiro it's because it's Asia and Asian people are very practical - I guess lugging picnic baskets 70 metres more takes a lot of energy.... My theory is more like the concrete companies had good connections with local govt....cynical I know...

Behind the beach very wide nature strips - no tsunami washing out houses here.

People take off their shoes as they leave the concrete path and start walking on the sand. It's endearing but the effort to keep the sand clean strikes me as a little odd when there was litter (admittedly not a lot) left on the beach....

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Umi hotaru

The winter is fast approaching, which means the end of the biking season is also approaching - at least for me anyway. Sunday we took advantage of the sunshine and decided on a trip to 'umi hotaru' 海ホタル. Umi hotaru - or firefly sea - is an artificial island in the middle of Tokyo bay, located at the point where the tunnel from the Kawasaki side meets the bridge from the Kisarazu, Chiba side. The aim of the 'Aqualine' is to enable traffic to by-pass Tokyo by connecting the two sides of the bay - at a distance of 14kms. Umi hotaru itself is a somewhat tacky collection of eateries, souvenir shops and statues designed for people to pose next to for photos. The air was less clear down there and the shoreline was not as visible as it would be some days. Nonetheless, it was worth the trip.

We had brunch at a fish shop on the Chiba shore where we have eaten at several times and always has very good fish before taking a look at some of the southern shoreline and returning home before the forecast evening rain.