Japan: trains

Showing posts with label trains. 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

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Ou honsen sen videos　奥羽本線

Ou Honsen, Gosannen near Yokote in Akita ken,

Ou Honsen, near Yuzawa, Akita ken

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

The long road back - Ou Honsen & Tohoku Honsen

The road back was similar to the way up, but the connections far less convenient. The Ou line from Odate was late, but they held the Nairiku sen so that transfering passengers could catch it. In Kakunodate also it was an easy change with 5 minutes between trains. From there, the connections involved long waits.

An hour at Omagari, an hour at Shinjo, an hour at Yamagata and half an hour at Yonezawa. From Fukushima back to Tokyo connection times were minimal.

One hour is not long enough to see much, and too long to be enjoyable. The notable exception is Yonezawa where they have a standing soba counter in the station!

Near Yuzawa (Akita)

The view from Shinjo station

The Ou sen terminates and returns to Akita

Between Yonezawa and Yamagata is Takahata
which has an onsen at the station!

Congratulations to the Rikuu Sai train line 100 years!
And a sign to welcome you to Yamagata -
the character is the prefecture mascot.

At Yonezawa - Fukushima bound

The train from Fukushima went direct to Kuroiso
with no change in Koriyama

From Kuroiso to Utsunomiya

Almost home...
After leaving before 7, I arrived back in Tokyo at 11.48

Akita Nairiku line 2

The mountain area between Kita Akita and Senboku cities (though local government area would be a more apt translation than city) is traditionally a place for hunting civilization as opposed to the more "traditionally" Japanese cultivation based civilization. The hunters who were known for hunting bears, tend to be more closely connected culturally to the Ainu than the rice farmers of the plains. But I don't know much about it. Hiro also doesn't know much about it, though from memory he went to school with people from bear hunting families. He says quite a few of the place names there are remnant Ainu names, such as Ani Matagi. (Matagi being the name of the bear hunting people. ) Wikipedia has a little on them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matagi

There are a lot photos, but it's stunning winter scenery.