It’s freezing cold as I step out of the Sunrise Seto. I pause to take photos, some are busy taking even more. Now, why did I get out at Kotohira?
So I could go all the way back to Takamatsu.
Now, I should save money and use JR trains, but last trip I discovered the wonders of the Kotoden, a private network of three lines out of Takamatsu. Their longest line runs to Kotohira.
Kotoden are like a living museum of old electric trains from Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka suburban and subway lines. Riding them is like stepping back in time. Stopping at Kotohira gives me a chance to catch them.
The Kotoden Kotohira station is a short walk from the JR station. Along the way I pass Japan’s largest wooden lighthouse, obviously moved here because we aren’t close to the sea.
I’m glad there’s a waiting room at Kotoden Kotohira Station, because the wind is freezing, I’m freezing. I buy a hot chocolate from the vending machine, a ticket from the ticket machine because I don’t want to use my IC card (they also have their own). The waiting room has some unique Kotohira gatchapon and a free community library.
I’m happy to board when the train arrives and I suspect most others are too. It’s warm inside the two car electric train. Most of their trains have unique livery. This one is a bit plain.
Off we rattle along the mainly single track for our ride to Takamatsu Chikko. There are lots of passing loops and just as many passing services. The train quickly fills with passengers, including school students in uniform on a Sunday.
We pass through rural and town areas. It’s not so much of a scenic line as a line with character. I’m at the rear having fun taking photos.
Takamatsu Chikko is located at Takamatsu’s old castle, mostly unrebuilt but with a wall and moat remaining. From there I walk to Takamatsu Station, a very modern building with shops including Loft and Muji inside.
I’m sick of lugging three backpacks around. I started with two, but then it was requested that I purchase more snacks and crackers and so I filled up a foldout backpack as well.
So I do that thing and buy a carry-on roller case from Muji to add to our collection at home. Normally they’re a pain in the neck if you are in anywhere other than a city with escalators and lifts and flat walkways. And no snow. Snow would have been difficult. But I think I’m over that part now.
I’m not completely certain what I’m doing today, except I’m tired and feel dirty. I try to work out a trip to Kochi via Tokushima, but I end up arriving late. I don’t want to travelling late today. I want to stop and relax.
I decide to ride down to Tokushima, which is at least somewhere I haven’t been before, and see how things go. I reserve a seat on the two car Uzushio Express. It’s got power! I need power, if only for an hour! My devices are going flat.
It’s quite pretty ride. Initially we partially follow another line of the Kotoden. While we are a single track, their single track has even less space between it and the surrounding buildings. It’s one of the things I love about many private lines. You get very personal with the locals.
The coastal views hint at something spectacular.
Along the way we are joined by two other lines merging into our track. The Tokushima Line is long and merges into the main line between Kochi and Okayama. The other is the Naruto Line.
When we arrive at Tokushima Station I make up my mind that I’ll just stay here for the night. I walk to the adjacent JR Clement Hotel to ask if I can get a discount with a JR Pass. It turns out the answer is no, but I book it anyway. I deserve something a little nice.
The inside of the hotel is classic older Japanese “luxury” hotel with a lobby, big chandeliers, a gift and clothing shop and wedding and banquet halls. But it’s also got a coin laundry. Unfortunately, they refuse to check me in until the standard 2 o’clock, so I leave my luggage.
I head to the tourist information office beneath the department store and talk to Lance, who seems to be a Japanese American. He has lots of suggestions, but they can wait until after I catch a train along the branch line to Naruto, a half an hour away.
You may know Naruto from their famous whirlpools, or the anime character named after them, or from the fish cakes which are the same. It’s another classic Japanese branch line, running past houses, through farms along a single track, getting up close and personal.
The station is nowhere near the whirlpool lookouts, though you cold catch a bus there. Nothing much is open nearby, even the foot bath out front is closed. I just go straight back, but this time hogging the rear window to take photos and video.
Once back I head below the station building and have a late lunch of tempura chicken supposedly local style with citrus. Then I finally check in.
But I can’t rest. There are things Lance suggested that I want to see!
Off I walk up the main street to the Awadori Festival Building.
The Awadori is a festival with traditional dance. They run shows for tourists in between the events. I should watch but I’m kind of familiar with this kind of thing and I want to catch the cable car up Mount Bizen before it gets dark.
They run pairs up and down on twin lines, so you have to wait. It’s a rather steep ascent, despite not being a particularly high mountain. I’m a bit concerned about the wind outside, but it’s all fine and there are magnificent views across Tokushima and all the way to the Kii Peninsula and Wakayama.
There are even more views at the top. It’s bitterly cold and windy and snowflakes are actually drifting down from the clouds. But I take the time to go to the back of the summit area and am rewarded with a gorgeous view of the late day sun through the cloud, painting the world gold, orange and grey.
I wonder if I fly over Tokushima when on descent into Kansai Airport. I might!
I go down via the cable car again with more wonderful views. There’s a patisserie opposite that I want to try, so I buy some pudding to take back to the hotel.
Many of the shops are closed and boarded up. The shotengai arcades seem mostly dead. Only the shiny shopping centres and departments store seems active.
I walk down to the river where the bridges are lit with LED lights. Tokushima claims to be home of the company that invented the world’s first white LED and the top manufacturer of LEDs. According to tourist information Lance you can go on a cruise of the river and admire these bridges. Being a Sunday they’ll have lots of customers, he said.
By lots, there’s just me. But I’m greeted and sold a ticket by a lady who speaks excellent English, given a life jacket, a blanket and a seat on the boat which leaves in 5 minutes.
Yes it’s freezing cold and it does get a little choppy near the very end, but I highly recommend these tours. We race under the many bridges and though most are not illuminated, there are the lights of the city shimmering over the water. Tokushima is an island in between streams and the coast and you can see that in the water.
Besides which, they play Joe Hisaishi’s music from Studio Ghibli movies and that’s the perfect soundtrack to the journey. I can’t feel my face when I get back, despite sitting in front of their gas heater for a bit (with Ariyoshi on TV, I can recognise him!), but it was really worth the journey, a true highlight of Tokushima.
On the way back I take a walk through the warm department store, buy some more crackers, then go back under the station to look for dinner. The little French place came recommended. Although it’s casual, the food isn’t. The servings of my sweet potato soup with pie crust and my fish were tiny (no wonder you need a whole set meal), but they were really delicious and transported me back to France. You wouldn’t get that many places in Australia.
My hotel room looks right out over the railway tracks and the city lights from up high, the washing is finished and now I really, really need to go to bed.
