Regional Japan 2015

Nearly six years ago I was fortunate to travel to Japan for the second time, which is a great place for railways generally.  International travel is probably off the agenda for most people for a fair while, and when it returns it will almost certainly be a massive hassle just to get into another country.  So, fortunate I was!

The Japanese love their trains, past and present.  And their present is our future, if we are smart about it.  Most people rightly associate Japanese railways with the massive Tokyo suburban network - 158 lines, 4,715 kilometres of track, 2,210 stations and about 40 million rides taken daily (according to Wikipedia).  Here are a couple of fairly boring shots around Shinjuku to make the point.

If not the Tokyo metro, then people associate Japan with the Shinkansen bullet trains. These were snapped on 24 November 2015.

But the purpose of this post is to cover the really neat semi-rural railways which also exist.  Between Tokyo and Kyoto lies Mount Fuji. An electrified line runs partway up the side of Fuji, and includes a zig zag (switchback) and a rack railway.  The trains aren't a lot to get enthused about, but the line is a scenic delight. This shot at Hakone-Itabashi on 27 November 2015 demonstrates the first point.

This 'through the front window' shot of the Hakone Tozan line shows a switchback and the general grade, necessitating the use of rack track.

Getting into the rural parts of Japan uncovers a better style of station building, such as this one at Myonshita (take care pronouncing that one).

But mainly, it is system where architectural merit is subsumed by functionality, which is fair enough given the transport task the system faces each day.

Back to Australia with the next post.  Just have a bit of cabin fever at the moment.

Don