Discovering the abandoned remnants of Japan’s slowest train | Kurayoshi

Discovering the abandoned remnants of Japan’s slowest train | Kurayoshi

today I’ll explore two parts of kurayoshi a small town in totoi prefecture near the Sea of Japan first I go to a bamboo forest on the edge of town to see the remnants of an abandoned Railway that was in its Heyday the slowest train in Japan then I visit Oldtown kurayoshi full of pre-World War I buildings still in use and some very strange modern touches good morning from kurayoshi Japan up on the North Japan sea today I’m going to explore this town I had a great sleep in my hotel because it’s such a quiet town which also means that the uh population is declining and I’m going to go see some evidence of that today there is a train line that doesn’t exist anymore and has a really weird history and it still exists now parts of it are in Decay but there’s a hiking trail along it so I’m going to go find that I have to go find the bus that goes there and I don’t know where that is so wish me luck it’s down this way somewhere let’s see if he’ll open the door and talk to [Music] me okay left right on time this bus is like 45 minutes something 45 minute ride and this just a local bus I have to just watch for the announcement uh for My Stop which is tyui because there are no this is not a tourist thing there’s no English anywhere I just have to listen and watch this sign and hopefully I can remember the kanji for it that when it comes hit the button to stop the bus you know I could have caught this bus right outside my hotel but I wanted to get on at the station I walked all the way to the station to get it from its first station just in case there were like no seats that seems kind of silly now Japanese Japanese Japanese got all right my bus has dropped me off here at taqi here on this little road the train line the old train tracks actual iron rails start up here I believe so let’s go find [Music] [Music] them so what I’ve learned about this train line is that it was the kayoshi line it went from kayoshi uh just about 20 km down into the mountains here wasn’t very long it was started in 1902 and it is a remnant of the jnr which is the predecessor to Jr which is what’s around now Japan Rail this is Japan National Rail the kayoshi line was Infamous for being Japan’s slowest train just so slow to go through the little winding narrow tracks here it’s all diesel trains and thanks to declining populations around here along the line the line was suspended in 1985 and basically a abandoned by jnr some of the tracks have been torn up not all of the whole line is still extent but this part has been preserved as of late to provide a little hiking place and a little look into history all right so in the old days the train would go here continue over a little Bridge here and go down that way as so often happens in Japan I got distracted trying to walk to 30 ft to the next part of the tracks unexpected figurines in a perfectly picturesque country Cemetery were perched on a hillside beside the former tyui station platform and when you join back up on the other side of the the bridge you can see the former taq G station taqi taqi means taq Temple so taq Temple is over there it’s still there um this was a station called tauchi to get people there and I think this is one of the only platforms that still exists here I don’t know if it’s the whole platform but let’s go see what it looks like so you come all this way I think what this is is you pay 200 yen and you get like a replica train ticket from the line 200 yen are they [Applause] [Applause] kidding okay here you go it’s actually made of cardboard it’s pretty cool is it 200 yen cool how many people have this how many people got okay here you go one of the one of the awesome things on this that’s still on this train line the sign for taqi station taq you can tell it’s old style because nowadays this character youu would be smaller for reasons I don’t want to go into now but ta kyuji ta cji and even then it said it in English which is always helpful for me so back in the decades past people would be standing here waiting for this weird little Forest train to come through here Japan’s slowest [Music] train [Music] for wow so there’s this one kind of famous place down there that uh I’ve already passed it where there are some bamboo stalks growing right between the tracks and it’s really really cool looking and um I was talking to this lady who’s here photography is her Hobby and she saw this on TV she she wanted to come see it and take photos and so here she is on the same day as me and she’s uh taking lots and lots and lots and lots of phot photos I kind of get the sense she’s waiting for me to leave but I’m kind of waiting for her to leave so I can get photos of it so um kind of wandering around now so just think you’d be on a platform somewhere around here waiting for the train to come the train would be going at about 10 m an hour averaging that between the two end stations which is slower than marathon runners I think but you’d be here on a day like today all the cedar trees and all the bamboo all around just quiet what a what a great train this would have been the diesel train huffing and puffing over this little tiny little Trestle here stunning Place really stunning place the birds chirping and the dragon flies uh the the bamboo all around and the bamboo leaves on the rails like between the rails below your feet and here it is the end of the walking Line This is as much as you can walk I understand that they do open this up for guided tours sometimes but you know I like to travel uh independently so I’m just here by myself so I can’t get in without breaking in so let’s go break in just kidding super cool looking old sign here old no super cool old looking sign here actually from about 3 weeks ago this is from some Middle School junior high school that took a uh class trip here I guess just to see the old rail line pretty cool field trip I think except for all the mosquitoes you don’t know you don’t know how many mosquitoes are hanging around me in my ears on my stuff look at that if you look this train line up online you will see pictures of this view this is the famous view of it down this straightaway with all the bamboo there will probably be three bamboo stalks here as you see there are only two actually growing between the tracks and this sign explains that one of them uh fell because of winter snow so the sign says one of them fell we’re sorry about that but these things do not live for forever so please do not lean on them and don’t uh disturb them in any way so that’s too bad there were three now there are two I don’t know anything about yeah I don’t know anything about bamboo but uh this one seems green and fairly straight this one is all brown here uh at the bottom kind of gets green up there but it’s curving I guess it’s just big and long and heavy it’s also tied up I don’t know if that means that one is not long for this world so by the time you get here there may only be one this one here and eventually there will be none but maybe new ones will [Music] [Music] come good timing I guess got 10 minutes before my bus is due to arrive from that direction in this amazingly luxurious bus stop here in rural Japan this is kind of what they’re like this is a nice one it’s actually got got enclosures for for weather stuff and what’s the point of just sitting here what’s the point of a of a passenger just sitting here waiting and not making themselves useful this little uh brush I mean straw broom in case you want to clean 3 minutes late but who’s counting so about 45 minutes back to the town of kayoshi maybe 30 minutes and uh we’ll see these magical wonderful white Plaster houses of the Edo era and nobody else is on this bus zero people me and the [Music] driver back in Oldtown Koshi it was lunchtime I couldn’t have picked a more atmospheric restaurant especially since they seated me right next to the speakers I didn’t add this music music audio later this is from the restaurant okay I just found a restaurant called seu had the tempura set meal oh it was more food than I was planning on eating but it was great after a day of riding the rails like I did this morning now I’m in kurayoshi I’m in kind of the downtown part of Kashi the the uh historical part and somewhere around here there are these there’s like Ro of like antique buildings uh and that’s the kind of the point the main draw around here so I don’t know where they are I’m looking all around for them but I must say there are a million things around here that are distracting me on my way to finding them this is a really really interesting little town for it seems to be kind of a quiet day here in kayoshi there’s a few tourists walking around like me but not many people and I think right up here is the the road the the the old storehouses I got it all to myself I don’t really know what it is but I got it all to [Music] myself I was wondering if that concrete thing would hold me so far so good okay little more details about this just found a sign so all of these they’re not that old they’re from about 10 maybe 120 years ago something like that but um what’s distinctive about them is this area is all of these concrete walkways and the white Plaster and the brown roof tiles it’s unusual this is so well preserved so this is what it looked like 12 years ago in Japan it’s like all these little like anime type girls figures everywhere I think that must be something that uh the town is doing to get like people to come here to take pictures with them for tourism reasons genius now we’re getting to the type of stuff that I like the old disused rusted forgotten stuff this is what’s really photogenic to me and look this is for sale all of these weeds could be yours maybe this is for sale with it all of this could be yours you could take all of these tables and that’s a live bird anyway you can take all these tables and chairs and stuff revamp the the restaurant or the cafe here have the hippest place in all of kayoshi and you have your own free bird your free pet bird hey hey speaking of old trains look at this now we’re talking all right if I understand this correctly and that’s a big if this is from a train line that was built in 1870 across like in this part of the Japan sea actually the train line of 1870 was an important part of Japan’s rail history but this particular train was in service from 1935 to 1972 and best of all it ran along the bamboo forest line that we saw this morning there had even been a picture of a very similar locomotive on the souvenir ticket machine there can’t read this but I think it says please go under their yellow tape and on up sir maybe not that sign does say kurayoshi on it well they can’t stop me from extending this selfie stick and looking inside what did you see okay here on the green sculpture prominade I’m going to call it a day here in Cuda Yoshi it has been great this is a really really cool area very unusual very unique if you’re ever in central Japan come on up here many thanks to my patreon supporters who helped make these videos possible and who for as little as a dollar a month can watch new videos at least a week before they’re published special thanks to Jacob fats Nathaniel Holland omire Ray Nichols and Will Phillips also thanks to subscribers to my free weekly email newsletter who can watch new videos a day before they’re published if you’d like to join either one links are in the video description and thanks for wandering around with me [Music] y

*Re-uploaded due to annoying copyright match. Details: https://www.patreon.com/posts/96021242
I visited the small city of Kurayoshi, near the Sea of Japan in central Honshū. This part of Tottori Prefecture features an abandoned railway called the JNR Kurayoshi Line. JNR was the predecessor of JR, and this line was a short route through a stunning forest of bamboo and cedar trees. It was also Japan’s slowest train, chugging along more slowly than marathon runners!

I took a bus from Kurayoshi station out to the Taikyuji stop in a very rural area. From there I walked along the old rail lines and saw the remnants of the platform at Taikjuyi station. I made it as far as a tunnel, which was sealed shut.

After that adventure, I took a bus back to the town of Kurayoshi and saw the famous row of old storehouses. They’re situated right in the middle of old town, a remarkable look at buildings that weren’t destroyed during the 20th century. Other than that, the town of Kurayoshi was full of curious little statues and figures and buildings. Quirky small-town Japan.

The day wrapped up with an unexpected look at more about rail history in this area – a locomotive from 1935 sits in a field on the edge of town. Kurayoshi is a lesser-known place but it’s worth a trip to see it all.

BG Report: https://www.t1dwanderer.com/bg-reports/walking-kurayoshi-japan/

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