Riding the Rails

I enjoy simple things: the feel of the radiant heat from the kerosene heater in the teachers’ lounge, the crunch of leaves under my bicycle tires, the smell of a freshly peeled mandarin orange. It doesn’t need to be fancy to impress me. So, spending the day riding along an old section of Japanese railroad was truly magical.

Caitlin and I met Minoru Urano in very serendipitous way. Having overheard a mixed up English/Japanese conversation we where having, he stepped in to translate. And then, he sat down with us. It was a simple as that. And before we knew it, Caitlin and I had made a wonderful Japanese friend who takes pleasure in showing us some of the less-obvious gems around Ota.

Last Sunday, Minoru-san and his wife, Tsugio, took us for a tour of a unique stretch of railway.

We boarded the “train” at Omama. Only it wasn’t a train because it wasn’t made up of a series of cars. Rather, it was a locomotive/car. Just one. Caitlin and I were the only foreigners on board, and we may have been the only people younger than 60 and older than two for most of the ride.



The little railcar sputtered along. Some of the stations were so small, there was no place to buy or deposit a ticket. Just hop on board and pay before getting off. So small was this operation, in fact, that when one man was late boarding, a yelp from some of the passengers brought the thing to a screeching halt. Never in my life did I think a train would ever slam on the breaks by request like that.

We rode the rails for hours, gazing out at the mountains and rivers as we went. The fall leaves still clinging to the trees as they fade from brilliant yellows and reds to a crisp golden hue as if baked in the oven.



Over the course of our adventures, we stopped at the Tomihiro Art Museum in Azuma, a railcar restaurant for tempura and soba, a small festival is Ashio, and an old copper mine site. We even warmed up at one station that provided public baths. At one point, we ended up on a train with tatami mat floors and a lounge car. Fun, but it was a serious pain to take my shoes on and off for one stop.


At 5:30, with the flip of a switch, the string of tiny train stations were brightly illuminated with strands of Christmas lights and other seasonal decorations. As we approached each station, the train’s lights were switched off, making the Christmas lights seem even brighter.


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