The Japanese Shinkansen network stretches from the bottom of Kyushu, across the length of Honshu and up to Hakodate in the northern island of Hokkaido. Of the four main islands, only Shikoku misses out. Fast though the Shinkansen is, to traverse the length of the network still takes many hours and multiple trains.
Today I will be riding from Kokura, at the tip of Kyushu just before Honshu, to Aomori, at the northern end of Honshu. It is a journey that will take about nine hours and four trains, three of them Shinkansen.
Connections are tight, so I indulge in a hotel buffet breakfast of both Japanese and western options. With time before the first train, I emerge into the morning heat for a chance to do a little local sightseeing. Kokura castle is a fifteen minute walk from the station and opens at 9 am, as does the adjacent castle garden.
A grey heron preens in front of a small crowd of onlookers, then flies off into the castle moat.
The garden is small, built downwards around a central pond. Pale blue rhododendrons bloom. Black koi drift. A large teahouse overlooks the pond, but it is too early for the tea service.
Kokura Castle is a concrete reconstruction, the interior packed with displays on the local history and that of its lords. There is English signage and interactive exhibits such as trying on costumes, VR recreations and a simulated ride on horseback shooting virtual arrows. Unfortunately, time is limited, so I make my way up to the fifth floor, the top, for views of Kokura.
Hurry back in the heat to Kokura Station. Instead of buying snacks for the trip I go to 3Coins to search for a pan B wanted last trip. It is not there. It is a race to get my bags, check out, and go to the platform for the Sakura 746 Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka.
Enough time to grab a drink from the vending machine, then relax into the padded brown patterned seats for the two hour, twenty minute, ride.
Southern Honshu streams past until mostly blue skies with wisps of high cloud. This is one of my favourite areas, full of towns left to explore, looking out upon the Seto Inland Sea and it’s many tiny islands. On the other side, my side, cities and mountains, farmland, rivers, train tracks disappearing into the interior, the castle next to the station at Fukuyama.
A quick change of trains at Shin-Osaka on to the Hikari 652 Shinkansen. Enough time to purchase an obento of Kobe beef ribs from the limited choices available, but not enough for snacks.
The landscape changes again, then again, from Osaka to Tokyo. So do the skies. Rising cumulus become more prominent, hinting at warmer, moister conditions outside. Towards Shizuoka the skies turn a dramatic grey and Fujisan will not exist once more.
Patches of blue return as the train enters Tokyo. An even quicker change now, 8 minutes to swap platforms and board the Hayabusa 33 Shinkansen to Shin-Aomori. If another passenger hadn’t dithered, then maybe at least a drink from a platform vending machine, but I board without drinks or snacks.
The Tohoku Shinkansen is at its best in the late afternoon and evening. To the west, dramatic mountain ranges, volcanoes, illuminated with golden beams of god lights. To the east, giant bands of cumulus threatening storms. The train in the middle, racing northwards at over 300 kilometres per hour.
The landscape of summer green is vastly different to the winter whites of January.
Approaching Sendai, a minor miracle. A snack trolley appears! A drink, chocolate pretzels and the very vanilla ice cream now restore energy. The attendant has to return after the Sendai departure to collect payment so that she does not block the aisle.
The massive peak of Mount Iwate near Morioka is partly hidden by clouds. Night falls. We arrive at Shin-Aomori.
One final train, a short local service between isolated Shin-Aomori and Aomori Station. The shops have all closed at the final stop, but many seafood serving izakaya remain open, the front displaying the colourful paper lantern decorations of the Nebuta festival floats.
I should eat, but I just want to dump my stuff off at the hotel. I am exhausted and it is a reasonably long walk.
There is nothing open in the immediate vicinity of the hotel, but they serve free ramen later. It’s not much. It will do. Then a soak in the outdoor bath, the proper way to end a Japanese day.