So, finally it's summer vacation and his chance to travel to Japan has arrived and what is (practically) the first thing we do??? Ride trains! Early in our stay here Rex & I had plenty of time to kill and so he devised a clever way to see the countryside, cheaply, by rail. We simply buy the cheapest ticket, usually to the next stop, get off there and buy another ticket back to our original station. The catch is - we don't go back. We just jump on a train going anywhere on the same line and ride it as far as it goes; around a loop or to the end of the line and back. And ultimately all it costs is the amount to the closest station away!
So that's exactly what Matt and I did the first day he was here.
We rode my favorite train line (and now Matt's I think) the Hankyu on the Takarazuka line up into the mountains and around back towards the ocean and home again to our Kitaguchi station in Nishinomiya. Matt had the great idea to get up in the front car right behind the engineer so we had a great view of where we were going. He took a lot of video as we went up and down hills, through intersections, passing oncoming trains, switching tracks, and so on. We also got to watch the engineer as he maneuvered the train controls while all the time following a precise schedule outlined on the control panel. To say that Matt has an fascination with trains is an understatement. Not only does he love them but he is very knowledgeable about them as well - trains from all across the globe. Being that to go anywhere outside of our city we have to ride the trains I knew Matt would have plenty of opportunity to ride the rails. But, having said that, I knew I wouldn't be able to make him wait even one day - jet lag or no jet lag!
So far we have ridden the Hankyu trains, many times, the JR over to Osaka - where just standing on the platform we saw so many different kinds of trains it was amazing, the JR loop line, and the subway line in Osaka. We still have the Big Daddy of them all - the Shinkansen - to ride, but we have that planned for our trip to Himeji-jo later this week. Hopefully we'll be able to switch bullet trains in Kobe and get to experience two different models for the price of one!
I'm sure Matt would also like to tell you all about how we got on the wrong JR line another day and bypassed Osaka, underground! After I realized we had been riding for FOREVER (and it was only supposed to be 15-20 min and we weren't supposed to be underground at all), I checked the next station coming up and realized our mistake.
We hopped off, caught the next train back to the loop line and rode that around Osaka and back to Osaka station to catch our train home. Unfortunately, the JR train line doesn't use a lot of English signage and we jumped on an Express train that, although on our track to home, apparently didn't go to our home station and instead took us back up into the mountain with no chance to jump off and turn around after it branched off our home bound track! That was a particularly "train worthy" day! And again, it was all with just the cheapest station ticket:). At least I can say we got our moneys worth!Ultimately, it's one of those life dilemmas; so many trains, so little time. Even I would like to ride some of the cool trains we've seen, but there are so many and it would be impossible to do it all. No matter what, by the end of his stay here I think Matt will have a good bit of train time under his belt, but I'm also quite sure it would never be enough. I have a pretty good idea he'll return to Japan one day and when he does I'm pretty sure it will have something to do with the trains.
1 comment:
I envy Matt his train knowledge and interest. I'm sure I would have developed it myself had I lived anywhere near a train route growing up. (No trains at all in Kitsap County except those bringing missiles to the Navy submarine base.) I didn't ride a train at all until I was almost 30, when I took a train-trip vacation across Canada. Finally, I saw how one could fall in love with the rails. So soothing, so powerful, so rhythmical ... and so much a chance to bond with strangers on a long journey. And you can't help but think of all the backbreaking work a century before or more than went into surveying the routes, laying the rails and driving the spikes in the middle of nowhere. (I kept hearing that great old Gordon Lightfoot song, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy," going through my head: "A dollar a day and a place for my head/A drink for the living, a toast to the dead.")
Now, I'm seeing the pleasure and simplicity of taking the train when I go to Portland ... particularly in these days of high gas prices. Amtrak has its pain-in-the-ass aspects, but it's still a fun trip ... and a great way to see familiar terrain in a whole new way.
I'm glad you were able to open a whole new world of delights to somebody who obviously delighted in them.
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