shikoku new year -- ++ 米原

s h i k o k u ... b o u n d - 12//29//2005

Going to Shikoku ---- WELL, the day finally came -- December 29 2005, and C. and I were bound to Shikoku in southern Japan, for my first ever (authentic) experience of the Japanese New Year. We had to get up at 3am to get the train, which is usually the time I go to sleep, so you could imagine the shock to my senses that ensued! And while I say "we got the train", actually it was a series of trains we were destined to board that day, perhaps 11 or 12 trains in fact. C. and I were travelling with a Seishun Juhachi Kippu (青春１８切符), or Youth Pass, which allows you to travel by train anywhere in Japan for one whole day for only 2300 Yen. The catch is, you have to use the slow local trains. From my home in Tokyo to C.'s home in Shikoku is a long way, but it is possible to make the journey in one day -- I guess it takes about 16 or 17 hours. Which is one serious slog. But it's do-able. And you can see a lot of Japan from your window as you go. And it's ten times cheaper than taking a plane or shinkansen bullet train!

I have become something of a veteran of the Japanese railways in the past year, having made some memorable trips by train to Kyoto, Lake Suwa and World Expo 2005 at Aichi. December 29 2005 was to become another epic day of discovery by rail, and I plunged through parts of the world I had never before encountered -- for example the great cities of Osaka, Kobe and Himeiji, and the island-studded Inland Sea. The first train of the day was the 5amish Tokyo to Shizuoka express. At least I could sit down in this train and the seats were kind of nice and soft. From Shizuoka on, however, conditions deteriorated, crowds increased, trains shortened, and I found myself forced to stand up (and at the ungodly time of 7am!) Thankfully the sun had come up by this time and was spreading some much needed golden rays! I wrote in my keitai diary on the train to Ougaki: "A beautiful winter morning dawned on the Honshu south coast between Shizuoka and Ougaki, sunshine shimmering off the silver sea and distant snowy peaks. I love the Japanese countryside in the winter: stripped back and bare like the pruned ginkgo trees on the streets, everything the color of earth..."

It was brown and dry around Shizuoka, but the brown turned to white as I approached the next terminus at Maibara (near Gifu). As I wrote on my keitai mobile phone: "The snow started at Nagoya, and got thicker and thicker, the deeper into Kansai we went. These photos (on the left) were taken at Maibara, before we boarded the 4th train of the day."

Yes, it was only 11am or so, and I had already ridden four trains all the way to their destinations. It was to be a long day, but we made it to Shikoku in the end. If anyone is visiting Japan during the holiday seasons and wants to travel around Japan, I would recommend buying a Seishun Juhachi Kippu ticket. It might be much slower than taking a bullet train, but you can see so much more. Like cool little snow towns like Maibara. One day I want to go back there in the winter, and see this quaint little town under a thick blanket of snow. And Japan is full of quiant little snow hamlets in the winter -- you can reach many of them by local train.



	s h i k o k u ... b o u n d - 12//29//2005 Going to Shikoku ---- WELL, the day finally came -- December 29 2005, and C. and I were bound to Shikoku in southern Japan, for my first ever (authentic) experience of the Japanese New Year. We had to get up at 3am to get the train, which is usually the time I go to sleep, so you could imagine the shock to my senses that ensued! And while I say "we got the train", actually it was a series of trains we were destined to board that day, perhaps 11 or 12 trains in fact. C. and I were travelling with a Seishun Juhachi Kippu (青春１８切符), or Youth Pass, which allows you to travel by train anywhere in Japan for one whole day for only 2300 Yen. The catch is, you have to use the slow local trains. From my home in Tokyo to C.'s home in Shikoku is a long way, but it is possible to make the journey in one day -- I guess it takes about 16 or 17 hours. Which is one serious slog. But it's do-able. And you can see a lot of Japan from your window as you go. And it's ten times cheaper than taking a plane or shinkansen bullet train! I have become something of a veteran of the Japanese railways in the past year, having made some memorable trips by train to Kyoto, Lake Suwa and World Expo 2005 at Aichi. December 29 2005 was to become another epic day of discovery by rail, and I plunged through parts of the world I had never before encountered -- for example the great cities of Osaka, Kobe and Himeiji, and the island-studded Inland Sea. The first train of the day was the 5amish Tokyo to Shizuoka express. At least I could sit down in this train and the seats were kind of nice and soft. From Shizuoka on, however, conditions deteriorated, crowds increased, trains shortened, and I found myself forced to stand up (and at the ungodly time of 7am!) Thankfully the sun had come up by this time and was spreading some much needed golden rays! I wrote in my keitai diary on the train to Ougaki: "A beautiful winter morning dawned on the Honshu south coast between Shizuoka and Ougaki, sunshine shimmering off the silver sea and distant snowy peaks. I love the Japanese countryside in the winter: stripped back and bare like the pruned ginkgo trees on the streets, everything the color of earth..." It was brown and dry around Shizuoka, but the brown turned to white as I approached the next terminus at Maibara (near Gifu). As I wrote on my keitai mobile phone: "The snow started at Nagoya, and got thicker and thicker, the deeper into Kansai we went. These photos (on the left) were taken at Maibara, before we boarded the 4th train of the day." Yes, it was only 11am or so, and I had already ridden four trains all the way to their destinations. It was to be a long day, but we made it to Shikoku in the end. If anyone is visiting Japan during the holiday seasons and wants to travel around Japan, I would recommend buying a Seishun Juhachi Kippu ticket. It might be much slower than taking a bullet train, but you can see so much more. Like cool little snow towns like Maibara. One day I want to go back there in the winter, and see this quaint little town under a thick blanket of snow. And Japan is full of quiant little snow hamlets in the winter -- you can reach many of them by local train.
	[maibara -- winter snows] honshu japan 2005 copyright rob sullivan 1996-2005 and beyond!