That’s a wrap for my day out on the #Nagaden to #Obuse, featuring #Hokusai and a lovely, welcoming temple.
Any questions? Curious about how to incorporate this into your #Japan trip? Ask away!
#JohnDoesJapan
And then it was back to #Obuse station to get back on the #Nagaden to Nagano — and one of the ex-Narita Express trains pulled up just as my ex-Romancecar did as well. Train kismet! #JohnDoesJapan
This is what I mean: get off the beaten path in Japan! Nagano is by no means remote — it’s on the Shinkansen.
But this is down the #Nagaden, away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka-Hiroshima. I was by no means the only visible (or audible) foreigner.
But the vibe was so different.
A traditional Japanese large farmhouse complex in wood and plaster, two stories.
Interior, traditional Japanese house, with tatami, tokonoma and shoji.
Household effects, including desks, drawers, and other items.
Exterior, two-storey traditional Japanese house, in dark wood and off white plaster.
Between the #Hokusai Museum in #Obuse and the #Nagaden is the fascinating Takai Kozan museum, covering the life and art of the wealthy farmer who was Hokusai’s patron at the end of his life.
Lest this all sound very serious, there is an impressive artistic representation of extensive flatulence.
A view of the red and white double-decker Nagaden Limited express panoramic train standing at a station
Same train, focused in on the analogue sign showing this is a limited express for Nagano.
Looking in through the front side window of the same train at the front left-hand side seats.
Inside the train, looking sideways at the two front right hand seats with the panoramic windows. Beyond an older 2000 series train sits static on a platform.
Again! Again! Quick half an hour back on the #Nagaden, from Yudanaka Onsen to Obuse, home to the Hokusai Museum and many of the works of the great artist’s final years.
#JohnDoesJapan
On the final curves into the end of the #Nagaden line at Yudanaka, and they sure could do with some anti-wheel squeal technology!
Doing a quick turn here — Yudanaka Onsen is on my list for a winter trip, but I’m bound for Obuse and an afternoon with Hokusai.
#JohnDoesJapan
Some real country Japan vibes out the *side* window of the #Nagaden — spring is almost upon this lovely snow country plateau, but nothing’s popping up quite yet…
#JohnDoesJapan
A red and white limited express train next to a steel and red local train, poking out of a rail shed
Hands up if you’re old enough for this to be your memory of arriving into Tokyo! These ex-JR East 253 series trains used to be the Narita Express, and are now in 3-car form here on the #Nagaden.
Look out for them on the schedule! #JohnDoesJapan
0.5x fisheye inside the panoramic front car, with other passengers of various hair colours and cityscapes beyond.
Front window view: suburban Nagano, still on the double tracked section, with two-storey houses and mountains beyond.
Still in suburban Nagano, but down to single-track, with mountains beyond.
Out into the countryside along the mountains; fruit trees, farm sheds, and polytunnels.
The #Nagaden quickly turns from a two-track city line serving Nagano into a single-track rural line trundling between fruit trees and small villages, just how I like a good small railway.
#JohnDoesJapan
And off we go! The #Nagaden starts off under the streets of #Nagano, and its first stop is… Gondo.
My brain: GONDO CALLS FOR AID
#JohnDoesJapan
The driver cab section above the panoramic front car
Closeup on the driver windows
A small ladder up onto a plinth, with a ceiling hatch above it
Wait, you ask, how does the driver get into that cab above the passenger panoramic front cabin of the #Nagaden 1000/Odakyu 10000 #Romancecar?
Up the ladder and through the ceiling hatch!
#JohnDoesJapan
Interior, Romancecar front end car. Red and blue seats in 2-2 with huge panoramic windows.
Closeup on the seats without central armrest, and their fold-down and fold-up tables
Closeup on the front row pair of seats
View of the left hand four rows
The #Nagaden 1000/Odakyu 10000 Romancecar is such an icon, with this panoramic front end car and its squashy seats with the incredible view.
Why #Romancecar? Spot the lack of armrests between the seats, perfect for cuddling your special someone on the way to #Romancetown.
#JohnDoesJapan
A sleek panoramic fronted red and white train, with the driver cab in a bubble above. It looks super 1980s, like a Chevy Lumina minivan.
Same train, from behind the front rows
Same train, different angle
Same train, different angle
And here’s my ride: a full front panoramic #Nagaden 1000 series, formerly the Odakyu 10000 HiSE Romancecar from 1987, retired in 2012 and starting operations with the #Nagaden in 2005.
This is SO COOL, and so 1980s boom era Japan. Absolute #JohnDoesJapan train nerd catnip.
A 1980s aesthetic metallic train with a red stripe at the front.
Over here we have a #Nagaden 3000 Series, the former Tokyo Metro 03 Series from the Hibiya Line, built from the late 1980s and running there until 2020, at which point they were shortened for sale to the Nagaden.
Now they’re running local trains out here in snow country. #JohnDoesJapan
An older boxy metallic train, with a red stripe on the front and the number 8513.
Today operating a #Nagaden local, this is an 8500 series — a former Tokyo commuter train on the Tokyu lines, dating back to 1975 — and the winner of the 1976 Laurel Prize, which celebrates Japan’s best trains.
#JohnDoesJapan
Three trains sitting at a platform in an underground railway station. The one on the right is a very old aluminium bodied subway car with red stripes. The one in the middle is a semi double-decker train which is red and white. The one on the left looks like a 1980s subway train in black silver and red.
Let’s #Nagaden!
One of the GREAT things about the Nagano Electric Railway for people who love rail travel (like me!) is that they take second-hand trains from other railways across Japan.
So you get to ride incredible old trains dating back to the 70s — like these.
#JohnDoesJapan
The full timetable of the Nagano electric railway. Most trains are in black with a few trains in red green and blue.
The #Nagaden offers mostly local trains, with a sprinkling of limited expresses (limited like a NYC bus, as in “limited stop”) on special trains throughout the day.
Here’s the full timetable. #JohnDoesJapan
The fare gate section of an underground railway station with some local product sales immediately in front of it.
The #Nagaden station is deeply charming, though, and includes small stalls with local produce for all your absurdly large daikon radish needs.
this is the future #JohnDoesJapan liberals want
An incredibly complicated ticket machine. There are approximately eight laminated notices, translations, instructions and other pieces of bumf. It is at least in English and Japanese.
Tickets for the #Nagaden are both simple for basic stuff — buy them at the station of departure from the machine, ¥100 limited express train surcharge — and deeply irritating… you can only buy them from your departure station, and you can’t reserve the good seats on the limited expresses in person.
Interior, underground railway station. A few passengers are milling around ticket machines next to the staff window. on the left there are some fruits and vegetables for sale. It all looks a little bit 1980s forgotten in vibe.
Welcome to the #Nagaden, short for #NaganoDentetsu — with Dentetsu meaning “electric railway” in Japanese.
It’s the original private sector railway in this region, and its city terminal is in quite the subterranean bunker, which isn’t unusual for a Japanese private railway.
#JohnDoesJapan
