I’m heading to Kyoto where I’ll spend my last night before leaving Japan. Now I could just take the Dosan Line Express direct from Kochi to Okayama and take two and a half hours. But I’ve done that before.
No, let’s go on the Tokushima Line, the last one out of that city that I haven’t ridden.
Breakfast isn’t a viking invasion, but a set meal. There are six choices of meal, five of them regional specialities and a toast set.
I can’t code with another meal of seared bonito, other kinds of sashimi or a bowl of rice and stock, so I select the grilled mackerel.
I prefer it to yesterday’s grilled fish. I should have asked for a half serve of rice, though, because I’m very full and can’t finish it.
Time to hurry to the station to print out my reservations. There are Anpanman decorations everywhere and I climb the stairs to see the special Anpanman photo spots in Kochi Station. Alex is a bit too old for it now, but I love the fun of it.
There were Anpanman statues by the streets too.
Unfortunately none of my trains today is Anpanman themed. I’m actually starting off along the Dosan Line aboard the Nampu 8 Express for Okayama, but only as far as Awa-Ikeda.
If I wanted spectacular scenery then this is the Shikoku Line I’d catch. Unfortunately, I’m on the wrong side of the train for the best views, but I can see them out of the other windows as we wind our way high into the mountains along the Yoshino River valley. This is dramatic scenery rivalling the Takayama Main Line, the river leaping through the rocks, towns clinging on to the edges of the valley, the remnants of bridges replaced by more recent structures.
There are still traditional vine bridges in existence around the Iya Valley and I spot one adventure rope course near one town.
At Awa-Ikeda I transfer to the Tsurugisan 4 Express to Tokushima along that line. The two car KiHa 135 set dates back to the 1980’s and it feels and smells old. I think I’ve again booked a bad seat on the wrong side to the river, but the river flattens out now and I have a view out the front of the train, so I’m happy.
This is a broad valley and almost continuously urbanised, though with small farms dotted throughout growing rice, cabbages, onions and other vegetables, along with the ever-present citrus and persimmon trees, both fruiting in winter.
It starts to rain as soon as we leave Awa-Ikeda. There is snow high on some of the peaks.
I relax and enjoy the ride, spotting the tiny scenes everywhere. The empty buildings, the home with a tiny shop open on one side. Farmers, school kids, ordinary people doing ordinary things.
So maybe this isn’t as scenic as some of the other lines I’ve been riding these past couple of days, but it’s still interesting and I’m glad I did it.
I have a bit of time to change trains in Tokushima. It was only yesterday I was here. I finally buy that bowl of “special” zenzai red bean soup with grilled mochi I was going to try. It is served with green tea.
I don’t enjoy it quite as much as the one at Shirakawa-go, but it’s still nice and will hopefully sustain me for a bit.
The Uzushiro 14 is the same type of train that I rode to Tokushima yesterday, only I am reversing the journey to Takamatsu.
Back over the rivers that make Tokushima an island, the farms and towns. Up into the hills with the bamboo, the glimpses of islands in the sea.
Unfortunately, I have no time in Takamatsu, quickly switching platforms for the Marine Liner to Okayama.
Oh, I forgot I shouldn’t reserve a seat on that train. The only reserved seating is in the one double decked car and it’s down the bottom level with green class up top. I’m also on the “wrong” side of the train for crossing the bridge and there’s no overhead racks for my bags.
Oh well, at least there’s nobody beside me (except now my backpack), and I’ve done this route a few times.
I still try to take photos as we cross the Seto Ohashi (bridge). Then I fall asleep until we reach Okayama.
Now I have an hour in Okayama, a station I’m very familiar with. I store my bags in a locker, use the bathroom and order a set lunch of pork tonkatsu in local peach demi-glace (and less rice) and soup, along with a citrus tart.
That’ll be dinner too, I think.
Unfortunately, now there’s no time to buy some sweets from the omiyage stores to take home. Okayama is famous for its peaches and grapes and they’re always good in snacks.
It’s another N700 Supreme Shinkansen waiting for me at the platform, with Okayama as its start. The late afternoon light of Japan has a particularly golden hazy quality about it. It lifts the browns and greys of Japanese towns and gives them a sense of magic, silhouettes the leafless branches of the winter trees on top of the hills that follow the route.
We stop at Aioi and wait for a couple of other Nozomi services to shoot past, then suddenly we are pulling into Himeji with its famous castle.
The Shinkansen arrives and departs from Shin-Osaka and it is time to get ready to step off at Kyoto. I’m greeted at my hotel by a couple of animatronic dinosaurs, one carrying an inflatable studded baseball bat, but I know how to check into a Henn-na Hotel. My room has a view of the Shinkansen platforms.
I guess I should do something on my last full night in Japan although I don’t really feel like doing anything. I go up to the 9th floor of the Isetan department store at Kyoto Station to visit the Kato store.
So many beautiful model trains (testudo moko) and diorama pieces.
The big stairs of Kyoto Station are illuminated, advertising Valentine’s Day. It’s pretty cool when viewed from the bottom.
I explore the Yodobashi Camera branch, buy a small n-scale station platform in their hobby section and take a look at the King Jim Pomera, which is bigger than expected. I don’t think I like the keyboard either.
After the late lunch at Okayama, I’m not really hungry for dinner. I guess I’m starting to feel some nerves about the flight too.
I miss my family, but I also don’t want to leave Japan yet. I feel like I’ve been so busy travelling that I haven’t always had a chance to relax and enjoy things. Like sit and watch a movie or sleep in. And then life and work is supposed to start again.
I watch the last Tokaido Shinkansen services arrive and depart from our of my hotel room window. They are only going south now, terminating at Shin-Osaka before the Shinkansen network shuts down for the night.
I already miss riding on the late night trains in Japan. That you can be out so late and arrive at your destination to stay at a nearby hotel, find a meal still available. That you only need to stop travelling to sleep.