The Long Road to Kameyama

I will have to post this with half a dozen other entries when I get some internet access. I’m going to be staying a few days with my friend Hiroshi in Kameyama, Mie prefecture, somewhere between Nagoya and Kyoto. I took the long and cheap way here (7,250 yen) using only local trains from Kichijoji, where I had lunch with my former landlady Nami-san. This basically means I get to spend 8 hours seeing more of the country side, do more reading, and take longer naps than if had gone by bullet train (three hours or so total, for about 12,000 yen). It was a beautiful day, filled with some beautiful views.

From Tokyo station, I took the 13:43 東海道 line to 沼津, then switched to another 東海道 local line train from there to 静岡 and then another 東海道 line train from there to 豊橋 and from there a train to 名古屋 where I ate some dinner and took the last train on my journey to Hiroshi’s hometown. It would be nice if the 東海道 line had a single train that left Tokyo and simply crossed all of Japan stopping at all stations along the way but it probably doesn’t make much sense in train logic to have such a train.

Much of the line passes along the Japan’s beautiful coastline, filled as it is with hidden coves, steep cliffs and deep blue water. Other times it passed through tunnels and into lush little green valleys with their smattering of rice fields and cute little villages. I absolutely love emerging from those tunnels and finding myself each time in a little rural world.

I also past by the station called “Fuji” which as I looked out the window gave me the most amazing view of the mountain I have ever seen (I have never climbed the mountain or been as close to it before). I also took some notes on a few random stations in rural areas which looked they would make for interesting exploration on some other trip (most near the head of the Izu peninsula).

I stopped in 名古屋 (Nagoya) for about 40 minutes, which I assure you, was not enough time to see the town. It wasn’t even enough time to reach any of my standard near-the-station fast food choices for a decent meal on my pre-fixed dinner budget of 650 yen (I ended up getting a bagel, a rice ball, and McDonald’s Fish sticks). Any of my usual picks of Soba, Udon, Ramen, Gyudon, etc. would have been filling and fine, but the station was huge, scant on these kinds of restaurants, and the delicious looking selections at the station’s “Ramen Road” had long lines attached.