26 August, 2023

50 years on: a comparison (part 5)...Tokyo to Hokkaido

Hokkaido is the northernmost among four main islands in Japan. More than five million people live in the island, and its capital city Sapporo has a population of nearly two million people. Sapporo has dominated the local economy, and it has been popular among tourists. Hence, transport between Tokyo and Sapporo has been heavily used by millions of people.

Today, very few people use trains. According to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, over 6.2 million people travelled from Tokyo to Hokkaido by air while just 190 thousand people chose trains in 2019 (before the pandemic). However, most people travelled by trains in 1973 because flights were not as common and affordable as they are today. This article consists of three main sections: the train journeys in 1973, those in 2023, and sleeper trains that ran in 1988-2015.


Ueno to Sapporo in 1973

Before getting into the whole journeys between Tokyo and Sapporo, it is worth noting that there were ferry services between Aomori and Hakodate. In 1954, a ferry sank amid a powerful typhoon claiming at least 1,155 lives. That was why Seikan Tunnel was constructed (and opened in 1988).

In 1973, there were seven ferries registered in total, and each ferry was as large as 5,300 tonnes. There were 20 Class B (standard class) beds, 310 Green (first class) seats and 870 standard seats. The ferry timetable from Aomori to Hakodate was as follows.

 Aomori  Hakodate 
 5:25  9:15 
 7:30  11:20 
 10:15  14:05 
 12:05  15:55 
 14:35  18:25 
 17:00  20:50 
 19:50  23:40 
 0:35  4:25 

There were more services during holidays, but regular services were as such.

From Tokyo to Sapporo, Japanese National Railways provided six sets of services a day with the abovementioned ferry as listed below.

 Ueno  Aomori  Hakodate  Sapporo 
 (dep)  (arr)  (dep)  (arr)  (dep)  (arr) 
11:0519:3019:5023:4023:596:13
Hatsukari 2 ferry Suzuran 6
 
16:000:150:354:254:458:55
Hatsukari 4 ferry Ozora 1
 
20:005:085:259:159:3513:45
Yuzuru 2 ferry Ozora 2
 
22:307:107:3011:2011:4015:48
Hakutsuru ferry Ozora 3
 
23:059:5510:1514:0514:2518:36
Yuzuru 5 ferry Hokuto 1
 
23:2111:3912:0515:5516:1520:38
Towada 4 ferry Hokuto 2

There were many limited express and express services from Ueno to Aomori as shown in the past article. Towada was an express train that ran via Joban Line (the same route as Limited Express Yuzuru). Limited Express Hokuto, Ozora and Express Suzuran ran via Muroran Main and Chitose Lines.

As the timetable shows, the journeys between Tokyo and Sapporo were exhausting. The fastest one took nearly 17 hours even when all services ran on time. It may sound ridiculous today, but railway transport was in fact the most affordable for the majority of people 50 years ago.


Tokyo to Sapporo in 2023

Today, Tohoku Shinkansen high-speed trains run from Tokyo to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, which is about 18 km (11 miles) north of Hakodate station. Limited Express Hokuto calls at the station with annoyingly long name as well. The timetable from Tokyo to Sapporo is as follows.

 Tokyo  Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto  Sapporo 
 (dep)  (arr)  (dep)  (arr) 
 6:32  10:53  11:05  14:38 
 Hayabusa 1  Hokuto 9 
 
 8:20  12:17  12:34  16:04 
 Hayabusa 7  Hokuto 11 
 
 9:36  13:33  13:50  17:30 
 Hayabusa 13  Hokuto 13 
 
 10:44  15:01  15:20  18:47 
 Hayabusa 19  Hokuto 15 
 
 12:20  16:30  16:58  20:35 
 Hayabusa 23  Hokuto 17 
 
 13:20  17:47  18:11  21:37 
 Hayabusa 25  Hokuto 19 
 
 14:20  18:29  19:06  22:41 
 Hayabusa 27  Hokuto 21 

Needless to say, the duration was significantly reduced. The fastest journey today takes less than eight hours. Sadly, almost nobody (probably except a few enthusiasts) uses trains as flights are incomparably faster and often cheaper than trains. Those in Europe who are familiar with the word flygskam might think that the timetable above is not bad, but it is not regarded as a feasible option in Japan so far.


Sleeper Trains

Finally, it might be interesting to look into two sleeper trains: Hokutosei and Cassiopeia. They were limited express trains that ran between Ueno and Sapporo, and had been very popular among tourists. Hokutosei was launched when Seikan Tunnel was opened in 1988, with up to three trains a day. JR East launched Cassiopeia which consisted only of Class A beds (first class) in 1999, and it ran every other day. They were discontinued in 2015 and 2016 respectively as the high-speed rail was extended to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto.

In 2014, the timetable of these trains was as follows.

 Cassiopeia  Hokutosei 
 Ueno  16:20  19:03 
 Omiya  16:45  19:30 
 Utsunomiya  17:48  20:29 
 Koriyama  19:13  21:53 
 Fukushima  19:52  22:29 
 Sendai  20:59  23:30 
 Ichinoseki  22:08  - 
 Morioka  23:16  - 
 Hakodate  5:08  6:49 
 Mori  5:53  7:38 
 Yakumo  6:19  8:05 
 Oshamambe  6:43  8:29 
 Toya  7:13  8:59 
 Datemombetsu  7:25  9:16 
 Higashi-Muroran  7:46  9:36 
 Noboribetsu  8:01  9:51 
 Tomakomai  8:34  10:21 
 Minami-Chitose  8:55  10:41 
 Sapporo  9:32  11:15 

These trains were purely for tourists, not for business purposes. Their schedules apparently served the purpose, but they were discontinued. Had there been sleeper trains even today, they would have been used heavily by foreign tourists with Japan Rail Pass.

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12 August, 2023

Shichirigahama, Kamakura

Enoden is a small private railway in the ancient capital of Kamakura, and the railway itself is recognised as a tourist spot. There are many places to visit, such as Hase-dera (temple), The Great Buddha and Enoshima. In these days, many Slam Dunk (a basketball manga) fans from other countries such as China and South Korea visit a level crossing near Kamakurakokomae station.


Trains run along a beach. Sadly, the Sagami Bay (also known as the sea of Shonan) has been infamous for being dirty mostly because of pollution. Even so, there are a few places where magnificent scenery is available. Shichirigahama Beach is one of them.


When it is sunny, you can see the sunset and the island of Enoshima. When it is clear and dry, you can even see Mt. Fuji as well.


As time passes, the colour of the sky changes dramatically. These photos were taken in less than an hour, but look very different. Which one is your favourite?


Shichirigahama station is approximately 16 minutes from Kamakura, seven minutes from Enoshima and 20 minutes from Fujisawa by an Enoden train. Trains run every 14 minutes except in the early morning and late at night. The beach is just 200 yds from the station.

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25 July, 2023

(Updated) About my social media accounts

Twitter has been changing with significant negative impact on users, and frequent technical troubles have been observed as well. Getting rid of the blue bird logo and replacing it with X does not necessarily mean that the service will terminate, but it is unlikely to be something useful without (or even with) charging. Hence, I would like to list up alternative social media accounts that I currently use once again.


Mastodon

networker_365@mastodonapp.uk is my English account, and I appreciate your following. Some other servers which do not regulate illegal or antisocial posts including mstdn.jp and pawoo.net have been blocked or restricted, meaning that users of those servers may not be able to follow or even find me.

I also post some train photos to KHKQ@fedibird.com. All posts are written in Japanese, but I recently started attaching English alternative text (ALT) to each photo. At the moment, I generally do not follow back any non-Japanese speakers from this account (except those I know well on Twitter or other platforms).


Bluesky

I recently created a Bluesky account. I will use it more and more in coming months as I stop frequently checking X (Twitter) timeline. (*Update: 16 September)


Threads

I also have a Threads account, but I do not use it daily. When Threads connects to fediverse, I will follow Threads accounts from Mastodon mentioned above.

Sadly, it is reported that the number of active Threads users plummeted after a honeymoon period. I believe that unless Meta provides a timeline only showing accounts that one follows in a chronological order, Threads will never be an alternative for Twitter.


X (Twitter)

Twitter is still an easy tool to communicate with a large number of active users, and it is also easy to attract a wide audience. That is why I still retain my Twitter account even though I use it far less than I did until last year.

I do not think that the platform will be closed anytime soon, but there is nothing certain about its future. Therefore, I would like to kindly ask considering alternative options and follow me on other platforms before it is too late. I appreciate your understanding.

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22 July, 2023

50 years on: a comparison (part 4)...Towards the Northeast

The article uploaded last month showed that Tokaido Shinkansen became faster and more frequent in the last 50 years. It is not hard to imagine how have trips between Tokyo and Nagoya, Osaka and Okayama become easier.

Then, how about travelling from Tokyo to Tohoku region and vice versa? Today, there is Tohoku Shinkansen, the fastest high-speed rail in Japan whose trains can run at a speed of 320 km/h (200 mph), but it was still under construction in 1973. Thus, train journeys relied on Tohoku Main Line and other relevant lines. This article looks into six prefectural capitals in the region, namely: Fukushima, Sendai, Morioka, Yamagata, Akita and Aomori. Note that all tables below show regular services only.

The trains in 1973 started from or terminated at Ueno station, which was about 10 minutes from Tokyo station. The official timetable recommended all passengers arriving at Tokyo and taking another train from Ueno to take a 30-minute time allowance.


Fukushima, Sendai and Morioka


Yamagata


Akita


Aomori


Personal Views

Not to mention the journey duration, it is intriguing that there were fewer services in 1973 despite railway was more heavily used than it is today. In other words, Shinkansen must have contributed to more demands. Even with extensive motorway networks and modern airports across the country that we see today, high-speed rails clearly play an important role.

However, night trains do not exist today because there are cheap bus services and even decent business hotels everywhere. As the time passed, night trains became an obsolete option and therefore they were mostly discontinued by the 2000s.


Types of Rolling Stock (2023 and 1973)

Finally, types of rolling stock for abovementioned services were as follows.

2023

1973

*There were also locomotives and coaching stock that I have never seen (as they were withdrawn before the privatisation of JNR).
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08 July, 2023

At a Construction Site of the New Maglev Station

On Friday 17 June, JR Central opened a "square" in front of Hashimoto station in Sagamihara City (Kanagawa Prefecture). Here, Hashimoto station of Chuo Shinkansen has been constructed since 2019, and the construction site can be seen from this mound. It is called Sagamihara Rinia Hiroba (lit. Sagamihara Maglev Square), but hereinafter referred to as the Mound.

The Chuo Shinkansen is the first maglev rail in Japan and is scheduled to open between Shinagawa (Tokyo) and Nagoya in 2027, though it is highly likely to be deferred for several years mainly due to fierce criticism from the Governor of Shizuoka Prefecture. Trains will run at a speed of up to 505 km/h (314 mph).


The Mound is less than a five-minute walk from Hashimoto station (JR and Keio lines), but it is not easy to find its entrance as there are only few small signboards. The Mound is open for public once or twice a week, presumably for local residents. It is not a well-maintained facility so that infants and physically-challenged people might feel it difficult to walk.


Since the most part of the line will be underground, construction workers have been digging the ground to build the new station. It is not possible to see platforms or tracks, but just shows how deep the station will be. Lorries with literally tonnes of excavated soil were slowly moving every minute.


There is a blueprint of the station in the middle of the site. Those who are well-versed in civil engineering might be interested in it.


The Mound is 1,500 sq metres (1,794 sq yards) big. It will be closed in the near future as the construction goes on. According to a staff I spoke to, no decision has been made yet about this land after the construction completes, but it is likely to be a bus terminal and a roundabout.

Sagamihara Rinia Hiroba opens on Fridays and certain Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm, and is free of charge with no appointment required. Those who plan to visit should check the official calendar in advance, which is available on JR Central website.

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Location: Hashimoto Station, Sagamihara City