A Single Step

Usual morning routine for a rest day: laundry and catching up on emails and other admin. This afternoon I visited the SC Maglev and Railway Park, which is a sort of museum for train nerds. There are displays of various types of rolling stock (full size, real) through the ages, from steam locomotives to the latest Shinkansen, some of which you can walk through, plus displays explaining how various aspects of trains and rail systems work, all the way from the wheels to the control centre. As the name suggests, there’s also an extensive section on the development of Japan’s maglev trains, which are due to come into operation in 2027. Apparently they’ll operate at speeds of up to 500 kmh. One of my favourite things at the park was a giant model railway, which replicates in miniature some of the features of the Nagoya area. This is a music festival: This is central Nagoya and Nagoya station: This is the level of detail of passengers waiting on the platforms: Generally, a pleasant and relaxi...

With only the slightest sense of guilt at not walking (see yesterday’s post for the explanation), I took a couple of trains across Nagoya to Kuwana. This was, once upon a time, the western end of the ferry trip from Atsuta, which I’d reached the previous evening. A sea wall has been constructed in front of the old ferry landing place, allowing a view across the Ibi River to the largely industrial landscape beyond. Behind the sea wall, a little park preserves the site of the ferry wharf, including its guiding light. Picking up the Tokaido route from the road just behind the torii gate, I soon passed a large shrine with a row of paper lanterns, where I paid my respects for the day. A couple of maples in a canal-side park provided a splash of autumn colour. Just around the corner, a shop owner was mopping the tiles at the front of her store before opening. “Good morning,” she said in English. “Where are you from?” Introductions over, I asked Yoshiko-san what her shop sold. Clams (in Austr...

  I caught a train back to Shin-Anjo, where arriving passengers transferred into lines for buses bearing names like Mitsubishi and Denlo. Toyota City (named after the car maker, not the other way around) is not far from here, and I guess this area is one of the major centres of Japan’s auto industry. I, of course,  was relying on a much slower form of transport, and soon came across a nice little shrine half-hidden in a grove of trees, where I paid my respects. Approaching the Tokaido post town of Chiryu, a pine stood atop an ichirizuka. A nearby sign explained that an avenue of pines used to stretch for nearly a kilometre, but that housing development has halved the length. A typhoon wrought further destruction in 1952, but in 1971 about 150 new pines were planted and the local authorities work hard to protect the remaining trees. A pine also features in one of Hiroshige’s prints of the Tokaido stations, which depicts the annual horse fair for which Chiryu was famed for hundr...

  The day dawned overcast and proper chilly – I wore a beanie for most of the morning – but without yesterday’s bracing wind it warmed up appreciably through the day as the clouds disappeared. Two Meitetsu-line trains in their smart crimson livery took me back to the unstaffed little station at Nagasawa to pick up the Old Tokaido: A little roadside shrine held a statue of a Buddha (I think), a few coins, a single-serve sake bottle on its side and a sake cup. I added 10 yen towards the next drink. The Old Tokaido and Route 1 performed their by-now familiar dance: sometimes sharing the same space; sometimes weaving in and out but generally never too far away from each other. The road rose gently towards a crest and I crossed into Okazaki City: At one of the points where the OT branched off from the modern trunk route and into local back streets, I saw I sign I’d not noticed before: In the blue circle it reads, “sirubarodo” – literally “silver road”, as in, people with silver hair – i...