Trains and trails

 Hachinohe 13/3 

We have only been in Japan a very short time and we have already seen an amazing diversity in the shape, size, speed, comfort level and cost of trains. This is a trainspotter’s paradise. One of Beth’s missions in planning this trip was to make sure that we travelled on some of Japan’s more interesting train journeys, whether it be funky themed trains, scenic trains, very fast trains, or just local suburban trains. We are definitely not train nerds, but it is fair to say that we do enjoy train travel. One of the trips Beth pencilled in quite early was the Gono line, which is a normal regional commuter service that travels the north west coast of Honshu for about 150 kilometres. Unfortunately our timing is astray and we are about 2 weeks early to get one of the special themed “Joyful” trains which include food and entertainment and carriages artistically fitted out specifically for tourists.  Disappointing, but it was also a bit of a blessing in disguise, because the little rattly trains with normal workaday Japanese folk hopping on and off and almost no tourists, are a joy in themselves, and the outside scenery is the same regardless of what train is on the line.

We set aside a full day to head out via a local train service from Akita to join the narrow gauge Gono line at Higashi-Noshiro and travel its whole length to the little station of Kawabe, then another local service to Aomori to link up with a Shinkansen to Hachinohe where we start our first walking trip.

The Gono line was fun and the scenery very nice, but it really is hard to beat Australia’s coastal scenery. What we cannot compete on though is snow, and Japan has bucketloads of it. Along the coast there was enough, sometimes almost dipping into the sea of Japan, but as soon as we headed inland it just got thicker and thicker. It was lovely to look at, but we did hope that it would be a bit thinner once we got to Hachinohe on the east coast. Walking in the snow does not sound like fun.

Happily for us, although Hachinohe is pretty cold, it is neither raining nor snowing, and nor is there any remnant snow laying about, so, fingers crossed, the weather gods will continue to provide us good passage for our walk. The forecast looks good in the short term, but at this stage the last couple of days of our walk are looking a bit ugly.

Hachinohe is an interesting place. You wouldn’t really call it pretty, but it has a happy vibe, and as has been the case everywhere else we have been, the people are so friendly and helpful. We will stay in Hachinohe for two nights, but it is not really what we have come to see. The Michinoku coastal trail is a relatively new trail set up in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami which devastated much of Japan’s east coast. The trail links many pre-existing trails stretching 1,000 km from Hachinohe in the north to Soma in the south. We will be doing 70-80 km of it over 5 walking days.

My preparation for this walk has not been ideal. I have been carrying a persistent calf strain for a few weeks, which has curtailed my normal activities a little, and to my horror I aggravated it 5 days before jumping on the plane. It isn’t feeling too terrible though, so as long as I don’t overdo anything I think I will  be fine. It is only a coastal walk after all, so it should be flat and easy, shouldn’t it? I vaguely recall posing that question once before about a Spanish bike ride- and the answer was a resounding no.

Hotel Ragaso, Tanohata 16/3

As I write this I am looking out the 10th floor window of the Hotel Ragaso watching the snow fall and blanket the beach and trees on the nearby hills. It looks quite magical, but it didn’t really feel that way when we were out there just a couple of hours ago trying to trudge our way through it, but more on that later.

We are now 4 days into our 5 day Michinoku trail walk, and although every day has been wonderful, each day has surpassed the previous one, and I am pleased to say that my calf is holding up well despite being rigorously tested by the terrain, which is anything but flat.

This walk has been a little different to most we have done in the past. Because we are doing select segments of a very long trail, we are not just walking from inn to inn, but making use of trains and taxis to move about.  For our first day we catch a train from Hachinohe to the trail head at Same, about 15 km away, and after a visit to the Buddhist Shrine atop a hill overlooking the ocean and beside a seagull breeding colony (umbrellas were supplied to shield us from seagull excrement), we commenced our walk. The first couple of kilometres of walking was a bit suburban and industrial, and after being slightly underwhelmed by the scenery on the west coast, we started to tone down  our expectations of this walk. But as we got into our stride, so too did the walk start to delight us with very pleasant coastal vistas and a mix of very civilised footpath walking through to some mildly rugged tracks and hills. At the end of the walk at Tanesashi we got a bit of lunch and caught the little 2 carriage train back to Hachinohe.

The same train is pressed into service for day two, covering the same ground and then going further to Rikuchi-Nakano where our walk commences. It is a lovely little train trip, so it really is not a hardship doing the same trip again and again. Today’s walk involves a river crossing, and we are advised that if the river is too high, we need to take a detour of about 2 kilometres. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if the river is too high is to walk the two kilometres to the crossing and have a look.  Whilst we are usually up for any challenge thrown at us, the mixture of cold weather, quite an angry looking river, and the prospect of walking a further 15 kilometres further sopping wet, caused discretion to become the better part of valour. So we retraced our steps and took the inland detour, which was not terribly scenic (apart from a few gorgeous bonsai gardens), but was fun nonetheless because it took us through some ordinary little villages, and it is always nice to see how the locals live. Once we hit the ocean though, we were blown away, quite literally by the wind, but also by the stunning coastal scenery which is really quite gorgeous.

Today a taxi has been arranged to pick us up at 4:00 at the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine to take us 15km into Kuji, where our bed for the night  awaits.  Although we tried hard to stretch the walk out so that we arrived close to 4:00, it is actually not that easy to make a 5 hour walk last 7, so the best we could do was 2:30, which meant we had an hour and a half to wait, which is Ok except that it was bitterly cold. We walked the 1 kilometre to have a look at the temple, which being perched high on a small peninsula gave it a gorgeous outlook, but it also gave it a pretty strong wind coming straight off the snow capped mountains, so we didn’t linger and got back to our waiting point with just an hour to wait for our taxi. It was cold and it was windy and not a coffee shop in sight, so despite our weariness, we set off on a brisk walk around the block just to keep warm. Three circuits of the block later and a local came over presumably to ask us what we were up to. With the assistance of google translate we tried our best to explain, but he didn’t seem convinced. Nonetheless he clearly decided against a citizens arrest and took a wait and see strategy. Happily our taxi arrived and whisked us into Kuji.

To date we have been using the JR East 5 day pass to get around, which means we don’t need to mess around with buying tickets, but this runs out after day two of our walk, so for day three, which starts out with a train trip, we need to purchase a ticket. Needless to say I messed it up. I purchased what seemed like the right ticket at a JR machine, but in fact the train we needed was one of the very few trains in Japan not run by JR.  we will get the hang of this system of railways I swear, I just hope it is soon.

The train trip from Kuji to the start of our walk in Fudai on a little one carriage train is absolutely wonderful. The coastal scenery is beautiful and the train stops occasionally at points of interest along the way. As we were the only people on the train looking like tourists, I can only imagine (or kid myself more likely), that this was for our benefit.

Again the walk starts out a little ho-hum, but soon enough we are back climbing to amazing vantage points to gaze along the magnificent coastline, then plunging down to creeks and valleys, wandering through forests which are slowly casting off their winter clothes. It was hard work, but all quite magical. The highlight of the walk was saved to the very end at the Kitayamazaki cliffs lookout, which is just awesome.

Again we are an hour or so early for our taxi to the hotel, but luckily there is an information centre with a heater and a little cafe down the road, so we are able to avoid the need to do laps of the car park to keep warm. It is around here that we encountered our first brown bear. Since we signed up for this walk, I have been telling Beth that we could encounter bears, but it is fair to say my concerns have not been taken seriously.  Luckily for us the bear we encountered was well dead and in a display case at the information centre. But the sight of this grizzly creature together with signs along the trail warning of bears and entreaties in the information centre to carry bear bells and keep talking whilst walking to scare bears off early rather than surprise them suggests I wasn’t that silly after all. Mind you, it really does still feel like winter here, and any self respecting bear should still be home in bed.

Our taxi arrives on the stroke of four (I think punctuality is a point of honour for the Japanese) and drives us slowly and carefully to the beautiful Hotel Ragaso.  We are greeted by the most friendly party of hotel concierges you could imagine. One took our details and gave us our key. One brought our bags around, and another summoned a lift to take us to our wonderful Japanese style room on the 10th floor.  Futons, paper walls, tatami mats, slippers, robes, heated toilet seats. The whole shebang. Then dinner, which is included with our stay, is the most elegantly presented and sumptuous feast you could imagine. Beth is concerned about her capacity to consume so much food.

And so to today’s walk. The weather forecast for today was pretty grim reading, but in the true spirit of adventure we decided to ignore all that and carry on. For most of the walk, that decision paid dividends.  Our walk commenced back where we finished the previous day at the Kitayamazaki cliffs, which presented a very different vista in the drizzling rain. Still magnificent albeit a little brooding. Then down about a million very steep steps to the base of the cliffs and back up again, a process that repeated many times, testing muscles and joints. Slippery rocks, pine needles and leaves also added challenges. But each time the climb was rewarded with a wonderful outlook. A couple of hand dug tunnels through the rocks saved our legs and kept us dry, and a visit to the little fishing port village of Tsukue, which was obliterated in the 2011 tsunami and later rebuilt were quite interesting. It was cold and it was drizzly with occasional light snow, but at least the wind had stayed away, which made the precipitation tolerable. With about 5 kilometres to go, the drizzle had turned to constant light snow, and with about 3 kilometres to go, the light snow had turned heavier, and with about 1 kilometre to go, my fingers had turned to icicles. We actually stayed quite dry, but our coats and over-trousers and shoes were dripping wet.  The concierge kindly took them from us and sent them off somewhere to dry. Hopefully we get the back in the morning for our last day of walking, because the forecast looks even worse than today’s did.

Gono line coastal view

I like the translation

Snow on the Gono line

Kabushima shrine

White rock Michinoku coast

Boat that survived the Tsunami

Kabushima shrine

Train to Fufai

Fudai sea wall

Our room at Ragaso Hotel

Ceremony that we happened upon

Accidental shot that I like. Looks very Japanese

In her robes drinking matcha tea

Snowfall from our window

Tsusube village