Monday 08 June
The Choshi Electric Railway is a short (6.4km) branch line on the Pacific Coast. It has become famous in Japan because of its struggles to survive, at one point it closed and the tracks were lifted. The railway company gets more income from making and selling a local speciality nure senbai (wet rice cracker) than it does from running trains. Unlike most rice crackers these are soaked in soy sauce making them softer and more flavoursome than the dry ones. I really liked them.
Not the best weather today as we boarded the little train in the rain. I was rather concerned as we had received a tsunami warning this morning due to a big earthquake in the Philippines – perhaps not the best day to visit a coastal branch line.
We were welcomed by the railway’s president, and had a look round their tiny depot.
Next to the depot is a large soy sauce factory (brewery?) where their old diesel loco is on display.
They also have a tiny museum attached to their cafe/shop.
Next, a ride on the scenic line.
At the far end at Tokawa we found another old train.
A classic rural station.
(Nothing seemed to come of the tsunami.)
Tuesday 09 June
Off to Goi today, to the Kominato Railway, a very rural line where most trains are formed of single railbuses.
At Yoro Keikou most trains terminate, and we had to wait for one that carried on to the terminus. We went for a scenic stroll.
There was some doubt as to whether we would get a ride to the end of the line. The timetable poster was handwritten in japanese, Google Translate managed to work out that our train only runs on certain days, but I couldn’t find out what those days were. Happily the train turned up and soon took us to Kazusa-nakano.
This used to be a connection with another railway (you can see their platform on the left in the above picture.) which ran down to the Pacific coast, but that is no longer in operation.
For the return journey I sat at the front to enjoy the rural railway.
Back at Goi we visited the railway’s depot.
Kominato Railway also have a diesel powered loco shaped like a steam engine for tourist trains at the weekend, but I didn’t manage to get a photo.
On the way home I spotted some freight locos and snapped quick pictures from the moving train. First an EH-200 twin-unit, and then an EF-210 BoBoBo loco. We had seen many of the latter on our travels.
This evening’s beer was provided by Kankiku Brewery’s Tap Room 99.
Here I enjoyed their stout and an IPA. I was intrigued to see that the last tap on the bar back was for their own sake.
If anyone is wondering how a foreigner with no language skills can manage in a bar like this, here’s a shot of the beer menu, which contains all I need to know!
Wednesday 10 June
We started with three different local trains, and a chance to photograph some different types passing.
We were heading to a less-visited destination, the The Museum of Industrial Technology at the Nippon Institute of Technology.
Outside was a tram.
Here we found a fascinating collection of machine tools ancient and modern; and other things.
You can’t have a technical museum without a Teletype ASR-33.
In a separate building is their steam engine, which is occasionally operational.
Next, couple more short train rides, ending on the rubber tyred “New Shuttle”.
And in to the Railway Museum at Saitama. Another fantastic museum filled with trains and other exhibits. Here’s just a small selection.
Thursday 11 June
How about something other than railways? I always like to go up a tower when I visit a city, but my plans to do so on the first day here were thwarted by the bad weather, so let’s head to the Tokyo Skytree.
The views from the top didn’t disappoint.
Obviously I had to tick the bar at the 350m level, where I had a rather fine black beer which had no western characters on the label. Google Translate tells me it is brewed by Asahi (Aren’t they all?) and is called Black Student.
Back to trains, and two more railway museums, beginning with the one at Tobu.
Next, on to the Metro Museum.
The first metro in the Orient opened in Tokyo between Asakusa and Ueno in 1927. This was one of the first cars.
Part of a modern tunnel boring machine.
Beer tonight was at Jef United Pub. It took me ages to find because while I knew it was in the Chiba station complex, I didn’t realise it was inside the barriers!
Friday 12 June
I headed to Kamakura, a coastal town famous for its beaches and temples. I was somewhat startled to find it was completely packed with holidaymakers eating green ice cream and the like.
I beat a hasty retreat to a temple garden which was a lot less frantic.
I was about to leave when I spotted Craft Beer House Ege.
… where I could enjoy a pint of Your Krush from Kankiku Brewery in peace and quiet. That’s the same brewery as Tuesday evening’s tap.
The Enoshima Electric Railway runs from here along the coast, although I must say my enjoyment of the journey was somewhat marred by the fact that everyone else in the town wanted to go for a ride as well.
I rode to Enoshima where things were a lot calmer.
The line features some street running here.
Time for another danglebahn. This one is a single track with passing loops and features a number of steep climbs and descents, and some tunnels.
Tonight’s beer was in Craft Beer Bar Ibrew Ginza.
I had a tasty Hopmaster Cold IPA followed by Maple Banger, a 12.5% imperial stout from Estonia which I must say was wonderful.
Saturday 13 June
Multiple modes of transport today, starting with the metro to Shimbashi, where I could photograph a variety of passing trains while I waited for my connection.
On to Odawara, where I changed to the Hakone-Tozan Railway, initially to Hakone-yumoto where there is a change of gauge, and then on to Gora. The second section is a proper mountain railway with steep gradients, sharp curves and three switchbacks. Sorry, I didn’t get any decent pictures.
Next, a funicular.
Finally, a cablecar.
My final destination was the volcanic valley of Owakudani (literal translation Great Boiling Valley)
Owakudani is famous for its “black eggs”, hard boiled eggs cooked in the sulphurous volcanic gases, so I had to try some. To be honest, the inside looked and tasted just like any hard boiled egg.
Back down the mountain the same way as I came up and then back to Tokyo where my next destination was Akihabara Electric Town. What a strange place, it’s an area of Tokyo filled with bars, nightclubs and, most interesting to me, electronics shops.
This is the place to buy ham radio gear.
Need a switch? Or a transformer? There are shops specialising in these!
By a great effort of willpower I managed to avoid spending any money on useful bits (and I resisted the hostess bars as well.)
Final call of the day was Hitachino Nest Beer, located in Tokyo station, for a tasty glass of Nipponia.
Sunday 14 June
I started today’s travels from the subway station conveniently located right by my hotel. A classic example of a metro station with no surface buildings, just a lot of entrances like this.
Time for a different one of my interests, I headed to the NHK Museum of Broadcasting, where a fascinating range of exhibits are on show.
I joined a Japanese family to watch TV!
Brrr.
Continuing the broadcasting theme, how about a visit to Tokyo Tower, which is nearby?
Another opportunity to go high up for some great views.
There’s the Skytree in the hazy distance.
My next objective was the Imperial Palace Gardens. Here I hit a slight snag: Having purchased a souvenir bottle of Tokyo Tower Golden Honey Ale I was refused entry to the gardens as alcohol is not permitted. Undaunted, I found a seat nearby and swigged my beer.
So, in to the gardens at the second attempt! A very pleasant stroll around
Time for a drink, I think, and so to Shimbashi. Yona Yona Beer Works is a small chain of craft beer outlets, and my researches showed they might even have real ale.
Quite a wide choice of beers, but sadly the handpumps were not in use.
I had a fruity “Hazy IPA” and then “Beer Craft Saurus Black IPA”, both very tasty.
Good grief! A whole day without any railway destinations. Whatever next! Of course, I did ride on about five trains to get me where I was going, so the day was far from train free.
Monday 15 June
My last day in Japan. I started by heading for the intriguing Yurikamome line. This turned out to be a rubber-tyred system, driverless so I was able to sit at the front of the train and enjoy the ride through tower blocks and docks.
What makes this line unusual is that it features a spiral. As it climbs on to the rainbow bridge the line turns through 270 degrees. Not very easy to photograph from the train but in this picture you can see our future route passing overhead.
Next, a ride on the Ginza Line of the metro, which we learned a few days ago was the first such line in the Orient. Here’s a couple of pictures at Ueno.
At Shibuya is the famous pedestrian crossing that you see on the TV every time they talk about how busy Tokyo is. It wasn’t really a peak time when I went, but nonetheless there were a lot of people waiting for the green man.
On to Yebisu Brewery. Yebisu (Oddly, it is pronounced without the Y; the local station, named after the beer, is called Ebisu.) is nowadays a brand of national brewers Sapporo.
I sampled one of their specials, called Foggy Ale.
Finally, to another Yona Yona Beer Works, this one is in Shinjuku.
Here I enjoyed a Barley Wine followed by a fruity IPA. Once again, the two handpumps (beer engines to American readers.) were not in use.
Tuesday 16 June
And that was it. Time to go home. Just one last beer picture, courtesy of British Airways.
Conclusions
I though I would finish with a few general items not covered so far and my thoughts on the whole experience of a month in Japan.
Language. Despite knowing about three Japanese words I had very little trouble. Customer facing staff usually speak good English, train departure boards are usually in Japanese and English and destination signs almost always display the Romanised version of place names. We did struggle in Kochi where the tram destination blinds had no western characters. Restaurant menus sometimes had an English version, if not then it was Google Translate to the rescue.
Food. I haven’t included any food pictures here, mainly because I was too busy enjoying eating everything – raw fish included. My least favourite meal was “dipping noodles” which is like ramen but the noodles come in a separate bowl and are cold. You dip them in the broth to warm them up.
Gadgetry. Japan is well known for technology so I’m not going to list lots of things here, but I did notice a couple of unexpected things in the hotels: A heated mirror in the bathroom so it doesn’t mist up after you’ve showered; and a channel on the TV that showed the status of the machines in the hotel’s laundrette!
Unexpected rules. We all know about removing ones shoes before entering the posher restaurants. What I didn’t know was a related rule applying to my shoulder bag, which was not allowed on the floor. Some places had little baskets to put the bag in, others just asked me to put it on a chair.
Paying and Prices. Cash is still king in Japan, I found plenty of places which only accepted cash and only one or two card only bars. I had a smart card to pay for local rail journeys which could also be used to pay in many shops but ironically the only way to top it up was by putting cash in a machine. Prices seemed very reasonable in general, perhaps due to the declining value of the Yen.
Litter. You almost never see any litter. And yet it is very hard to find a litter bin. I guess everyone takes their rubbish home.
To finish, I’ll just mention KitKats. These are much smaller than the ones we are used to, and come in a vast range of flavours, ranging from dark chocolate, orange, green tea, strawberry and banana to tourist-targetted ones like sake and plum wine. I tried as many as I could find.
My thanks must go to my fellow travellers who made the whole trip very enjoyable, and to John and Steven for their superb planning and organisational skills.
