Riding The Ghost Train Of Ohtawara On Foot

I've been sitting on this topic for about 14 months now. Sitting and searching for as much information as possible.

There is information - just not a lot of it.

I even tried getting my good friend Matthew to ask his father-in-law living in Ohtawara for data, but there just wasn't much information forthcoming. I appreciate the effort, though.

I'm talking about the train service in Ohtawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan. The one that ran east-west. The one no one talks about or has much memory of. The one I rode upon on a road trip of discovery.

When I lived Ohtawara in 1990-1993 as a junior high school assistant English teacher on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme, there were three ways to get to my city of 50,000. You could drive via a highway, or you could take a train, or take a bus from a train station in a nearby town.

Via highway, you took the Nishinasuno-Shiobara interchange of the Tōhoku Expressway, as National Route 400 runs through the city.

I took it once when my bosses from the OBOE (Ohtawara Board of Education) office drove me to my home for the first time in August of 1990. I was sitting in the back of a white panel van with two of the office members and a tonne of luggage from Toronto. It was hot, wearing a three-piece suit and a tie, and there were no windows in the vehicle for me to look out of. I was uncomfortably stylish. Arriving in downtown Ohtawara, I had no idea of all of the beauty of the countryside that lay around me. It was over a year-later before I dared venture out on my own on a sight-seeing tour of my hometown (without the prospect of getting laid).


Aside from the highway, a visitor to Ohtawara could arrive at the Nishinasuno-machi (Town of Nishinasuno) train station and take a bus from there down southeast in to Ohtawara, or you could use the Nozaki-eki (Nozaki sation) train station actually situated in Ohtawara, but so far to the west that it just wasn't worth your while to use it if you lived in the downtown core, as I did.

I always used to think that that was it.

In the past, you could, walk, ride a horse or even ride a bicycle into Ohtawara... so lacking a horse and often too lazy to walk, I rode my bicycle around.

After the awe of the first year and being afraid of getting lost every time I left my home, I began to look around the rural city in my second year. Just getting comfortable in my surroundings, I guess.

I had noticed the Poppo dori trail - thanks to the exploration skills of Matthew and my ex-girlfriend Ashley - and would often ride along it at break neck speeds for no other reason than I enjoyed trying to not break my neck at excessive speeds.

The Poppo dori trail contained the remnants of a train station - and in fact the entire trail itself was completely refurbished in slate and tile, but maintained the illusion that a train line once ran here.

The Poppo dori trail running towards the viewer, with two paths.

One soggy day, I actually followed beyond where the Poppo dori trail ended - I had to walk, as my horse was in the shop - and discovered more of the train line path hidden from view as though it was a blot on the very face of Ohtawara's growth. 

This was the Toya Ohtawara train line. I have no idea when it started - perhaps the 1930s... perhaps earlier - but I do know that it closed in 1968.

Why? No clue. But I'd guess not enough customers and perhaps the building of the Tohoku Expressway to the west may have had something to do with it?

From what I can tell, the train line ran east/west following the Poppo dori bicycle path which consisted of two lanes - one for bikes and the other for walkers (and god help the bike rider, the dangerous dog walkers with chains stretched across our path).

There were two Ohtawara train stations: Ohtawara-eki (station) and Daikōmae-eki (station).

Daikomae-eki with the tiled  Poppo dori trail following the old Toya train line.

The image above is indeed a small covered waiting area of Daikōmae-eki, where riders could await the Toya passenger train. The ticket selling box is nowhere to be found. Neither are there any rails. Matthew and I would, on occasion ride our bikes through the covered area pictured above - though I never saw Ashley do it - too much of a lady.

The news is even worse for the Ohtawara-eki. All that remains of it is something called the Trial Supercenter, which sits where the station used to be. I don't even recall seeing this supercenter... hmmm... perhaps it is over to the east past Daikōmae-eki....

Until 1968, the old Ohtawara station used to sit where the tan building is now.

 
While on walk-about, I discovered that towards the east, the Toya train line went into a tunnel - now boarded up.

To get to it, I had followed this pathway (I guess I know what former train lines look like) though the backyards of the Ohtawara residents who must have been wondering just what the hell one of their local gaijin (foreigner) (Matthew was the other) was doing tramping around - but they saw me with my camera taking pictures so at the very least they had a gaijin sighting and no police were called.

Garbage strewn in a backyard beside the old Toya train track in Ohtawara-shi.

Every now and then, there would be a concentration of grey gravel rock - the ballast - on the ground where the train line had been, where one could use their imagination to see where the steel rails and wooden sleepers - railway ties - had been removed when the Toya train line shut down in 1968.

I kept walking for about a half-kilometer through the backyards of homes until I came to a boarded up round-mouthed tunnel. I was stymied.

The former train line in Ohtawara leads east to a tunnel.

The rounded train tunnel implies a small locomotive on the Toya line.

If you look at the rounded tunnel mouth in the photo above - and then compare it to the staircase on the right of the photo.... that's one small looking tunnel. To me it implies that this may have been akin to a toy train... not your standard large locomotive, but rather one used to riding the spur lines... this may have been a narrow gauge train system!

I walked back to where I had parked my bike and went home.

The next day, I set out again. I went to where I thought the train would have entered the tunnel, and then parked my bicycle in a different location and again started walking east - but not where the train tracks would have been... I was a bit further south than where I suspected the track had been.

I kept my eye on the small mountain where the train would have entered, and walked northeast determined to discover where it would have exited the tunnel.

I found that the train came out of the tunnel and crossed a wide span where a small river flowed north-south. With the aid of Matthew yesterday, I believe it to be the Sabi Gawa (Sabi River). 

The train's tunnel can be seen through the bare trees, with the edge of the concrete bridge standing over the Sabi river.

For some reason, I decided to climb down into the plain, and walked gingerly along the very muddy field. My running shoes quickly became sucked into the soggy goo, making further exploration up the east side of the plain an unlikely event.

The train track's bridge would have run left-right across this muddy field.

Still... while I stood in the middle of the plain (see the photo just above), I visualized a steam engine - probably something small like an 0-4-0 wheel base - crossing a rickety old bridge  - the base where the train exited the tunnel was cement, however, but it is possible that the bridge was either cement or wood - and pictured it heading in to its final destination to the east at what I now suspect was Ohtawara-eki.

I say suspect, because on the eastern bank of this span, after walking back alongside a road, I attempted to look for the train tracks despite my squishing running shoes, but there was no evidence of a train line at all.

I had reached the end of the line of my quest.

I have no information as to how many times a day this train may have run.

In fact, while I have evidence to suspect the Toya train ran farther west of Daikōmae-eki, I can not state for a fact if it actually went all the way west to the current JR (Japan Rail) train line station of Nozaki-eki.

I suspect that it did. I know that traveling along the bicycle path beside the main road from downtown Ohtawara towards Nozaki Chu Gakko (Nozaki Junior High School) at the farthest western edge of Ohtawara, the damn sidewalks were incredibly wide. Wide enough for a set of trail rails, in fact. That's just a guess, however. 

And, if it did go to Nozaki, did it continue farther west - perhaps to link up with Nikko-shi or even beyond?

I have no idea. Those that I talked to back in Ohtawara-shi back in the 1990s had no clue - and that was only a little over 20 years earlier. How soon we all forget, eh. Sorry, my Canadian was showing. 


If anyone has the means, and the desire to help me find out more information on the Toya train line, I would appreciate it.

In the mean time, aside from the top three photos taken from Wikipedia, the rest of the photos are my own from those two day trips around Ohtawara-shi, my dear, old hometown.

Cheers
Andrew Joseph

1-Year Anniversary of Tohoku Earthquake

Today, March 11, 2012 is the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, a 9.0 Magnitude shaker that devastated the northeastern coast of Japan and damn near everywhere else as well.

The earthquake spawned a tsunami that hit Japan at various heights (see the image above), and also caused power outages at the Dai-ichi nuclear power generating facility causing three nuclear reactors to almost go critical, but still spilled enough radiation into the water, air and land to cause immense damage to the country - physical, financial and emotional.

Despite the heavy loss of life and liberty, the people of Japan have retained its collective soul.

After many natural and unnatural disasters (like winning a sporting event), the populace goes crazy and tries to loot, or kill others... but not in Japan.

While civil disobedience does exist there - they are human after all - the Japanese were mostly calm and collected and did their best to help each other rather than just themselves.

For that... I am impressed.

There are other far more impressive places to read about what is going on right now to honor the dead during this trying anniversary, but this blog is not one of them. But, you still need to make sure that the information you get is correct.

I am not there. I have not been there in many, many years, though I often wish I was - especially during the crisis of March 11 and afterwards. I would love to have seen first-hand the courage of the Japanese people.

I have written about this tragedy throughout the past year, passing along second-hand information. It's there if you search it out. I've written about the science of earthquakes and tsunami culling the misinformation that the Internet is rife with and presented the facts as they are known. I have written about the mythology of earthquakes and tsunami, again culling the incorrect from various data sites to present only the facts as they are known. I've done decent job, I think, only having to be corrected a few times.   

What's particularly galling to me now in 2012, is that until the March 11 disasters, I was content with putting out a blog nearly every day. But, climbing aboard the shoulders of Japan, I began putting out as many blog entries as possible.

It was NEVER to become popular, though I would love to be. That wasn't why I did it. I did just in case that ONE person reading my blog had never seen a story about Japan before. I wrote and continue to write for that ONE person. The fact that the ONE person has told a few friends is nice, but completely unexpected, so gaining popularity as a blogger has occurred.

The increased blogging has taught me how to use the Internet a bit better. But, more importantly, it has introduced me to some very interesting people... people who asked me to help find loved ones lost during the disasters, hoping I might have some better handle on helping look. And what do you know? I did. So did my friend Matthew Hall. Who knew?! We were able to help that someone track down friends in Japan. They were alive and well.

We were able to help ONE person.

The blogging thing has also led me to Mike Rogers... I have no idea who found whom first anymore, but I am glad to have met him, even if it is only through our blogs and e-mails.

Mike Rogers, my good friend, puts out the oft-bombastic Marketing Japan blog. He has told me he is driving out with a good friend of his today... into the danger zone... to do a second documentary on what life is like for the people there now.

He had previously done the impressive Ishinomaki - Black Water documentary, seen here below.

When Mike finishes the second video, I will post a link to it here.

In the meantime, here is the first documentary. It's well worth a look.

Ishinomaki - Black Water

Meanwhile, if you so desire, let me also guide you to a scary video of the March 11, 2011 tsunami. I've watched it many times over the past 366 days, and it still gives me chills and brings a tear or three to my eyes.

You can hear the terror in the people as they watch their city disappear - especially as they wonder if they are high enough and if all of the people running for their life made it to the hill. I don't think they did.

Tsunami Destroying Minami Sanriku

As an aside... the tsunami map up above while an earnest effort does not seem to match many eye-witness reports. Heck... even the Wikipedia entry on Minami Sanriku says the town was hit by a waves (plural!) as high as 16 meters (52 feet)! I only present it so that you can see that despite it being one whole year later, I still have NOT seen consistent data regarding the tsunami heights.

Check out this article I wrote: Dead Mayor Saves Town From Tsunami. Within the article, you'll note that a nearby town was destroyed after waves crashed OVER its 10 meter (33-foot high) floodgate! As well... many of the city's evacuation centers were situated some 20 meters ABOVE sea level, and were still inundated by the waves.

Take a look at the map above... it shows there was no wave higher than 9.3 meters.

Which is correct? I'm going to say the fact that a town was destroyed AFTER waves crashed OVER its 10 meter high floodgates would imply that the tsunami height image graphic above is incorrect.There's a lot of misinformation out there. Just be careful.
 
I'm a writer. I don't live in Japan any longer. But, it's gratifying to know one can still help.
 
March 11, 2012. Ganbatte kudasai, Nihonjin.
(good luck/do your best, Japanese folk)

Somewhere doing some soul-searching,
Andrew Joseph