Local train cruise: the Suigun line from Kôriyama to Mito, part 1
When transferring hotels from Aizu, Fukushima, to Tokyo, the Tôhoku Shinkansen connection is the most obvious. But check-out in one place is before 10 AM, and check-in at the next is after 3 PM, so the Shinkansen is too fast if you want to avoid lumbering around with luggage for too long. So I devised this detour via Mito, a much longer train ride which would at least let me get my luggage off my back and in the overhead racks for a few hours, with a direct connection to Shinagawa after lunch and a brief walk around the place, hopefully with said luggage in a locker - which wasn't a given, this was O-Bon Saturday.
So, with the initial hour-long trip from Aizu out the way, we start the Suigun line at Kôriyama. "Suigun" is spelled 水郡, which indicates that it connects Mito 水戸 and Kôriyama 郡山; never mind that neither of those kanji are pronounced the same as in the place names!
Kôriyama (0 km), 9:00 AM. This is a crossroad station, where the Ban'etsu line from Aizu to Iwaki and the Suigun line meet the Tôhoku main line, the artery from Tôkyô to the North. The Tôhoku Shinkansen passes above the ground-level lines giving us a view of the depot. From the front to the back: a JR Freight EH500 articulated loco, a KiHa 110 Diesel unit, and a GV-E197 ballast transport. That last one is a recent addition to JR East's track work fleet, and uses Diesel units at each end of a train of hoppers instead of locomotives. Would love to hang around (and picture the elusive H5 Shinkansen), but the train leaves at 9:18.
Between Kawahigashi (20 km) and Izumigô (27 km), we follow the Abukuma river. Above, we can just glimpse some railing between the rice paddies and the river: that's a cycle road. Below, we get the view out the front, which we can often do in Japan. Actually, after leaving Kôriyama, the train stopped suddenly, with some bloke in the carriage shouting "uso da!". Passengers gathered at the front to see what had happened, and so did I, but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. We were stopped for a few minutes and got underway again.
Iwaki-Asakawa (45 km), 10:24 AM. Below, we see the board welcoming us to the small town of Asakawa. It looks nice, and has a claim to fame as the home of pathologist Yoshida Tomizo (1903-1973), who contributed to proving that cancers could be induced by prolonged exposure to certain chemicals. It also has a big firework display on 16 August which is... tonight. Oh bo#ocks.
The last stop in Fukushima prefecture is Yamatsuri-yama (75 km), 11:07 AM. Now following the Kuji river, the train stops at a rather picturesque location, with the Ayunotsuri pedestrian suspension bridge looking very inviting for a hike in the area. But I have to decline, despite getting flashbacks to Tônohetsuri near Aizu that I'd visited the day before. I'll have to stop in the area another time!
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