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How I plan Japan

I look at a map and spot a railway line.


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Then I use a station name to try to find the name of the line. No, wait, that stops partway along with grey railway line of the map.What's the end station? Got it. Any connections listed? No. Alright, what's the end station on the map? Keyakidaira. No Wikipedia entry, but look what website the search brought up!

Kurobe Gorge tourist railway

Pity that it only opens in late April/May. Definitely got to catch it one day. But it all begins with a line on a map.




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Unknown said…
Hi Allrite,

I'm a long-time reader of your trip reports over on A.net, and have been recently browsing through your blog posts as well. I've done the Kurobe Gorge train route, all the way to Keyakidaira. It's a tiny station that isn't attached to any towns or anything - just a small building full of souvenirs, a restaurant, and then many walking paths through the gorge. It's quite nice, although when I was there (late November, 2012), it was absolutely freezing, and most of the walking paths were closed due to slippery ice.

Here's a link to some photos of it, in case you're interested:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151571908768098.604128.694388097&type=1&l=4e13037894

The photos of the Kurobe Gorge railway are about halfway through, but otherwise it's got lots of other photos from this portion of our Japan trip. I hope you enjoy, and keep posting awesome trip reports!

Cheers,

David
17 September 2013 at 17:57
allrite said…
Great photos! Many are so familiar, some I have yet to visit, like Keyakidaira. I haven't tried Banana Gokuri either - envy! :)

Fortunately too much envy is kept in check - only weeks now until the next trip.
17 September 2013 at 20:09
Unknown said…
Awesome! Looking forward to another trip report :)

Emma and I (the lovely girl in the albums) recently booked tickets to Japan as well, with one of Jetstar's awesome sales.

We're flying into KIX, spending 3 nights there, then heading up to south-west Nagano to walk the Magome-Tsumago trail. Then we're off to Matsumoto for a night, followed by another trip to Yudanaka to the Snow Monkeys (we absolutely love the little town there and the Ryokans are amazing).

Then we're off to Tokyo for 3 nights. From there, we're catching an Asiana 744-Combi to ICN, 4 days in Seoul (including a daytrip aboard Korail's KTX to Gyeongju), and then back on an Asiana A333 to KIX, where we spend one final night in Osaka before heading back on Jetstar to down-under.

Thankyou for writing such amazing trip reports - while I've always had a desire to go to Japan, your reports show how much fantastic beauty there is in the country outside of its bustling cities. I'd be lying if I said that your trip reports hadn't had a significant impact on my desire to travel to Japan - so much so that this will be my 3rd trip there in November! My bank account hates you, but my spirit can't thank you enough! Enjoy your travels :)
17 September 2013 at 23:25
allrite said…
Glad to hear that I have inflicted some of my Japan obsessed financial pain on to others! :) Sounds like you'll have a fantastic time. I wanted to do the Magome-Tsumago trail but B was preggers at the time and we had to catch a bus to the latter. Would love to have stayed in a ryokan at Tsumago. Matsumoto is brilliant, definitely one of the best castles in Japan. Haven't been to Yudanaka or Nagano yet. The Central Alps and the coastline between Toyooka and Niigata are my next focus spots in Japan, though not for the next trip.

Loved your photos and they brought back many memories, especially of Kanazawa, one of my favourite cities in Japan.

Hope that you enjoy Korea. I've only spent a single night in Seoul (but oh what a night exploring the Dongdaemun night markets!) plus a very sleepy day on the way back from Europe. I rather enjoyed it.

Next trip we do AirAsia SYD-KUL-SIN (day) and then straight on that night to KIX with Jetstar (insane and any delays could wreck things). 3 nights, 4 days in Osaka, then to SIN for half a night/day's sleep before continuing on to SGN. HUI the next day with Vietnam Airlines, train to Da Nang and Hoi An for 2 nights, then back to KUL for 2 nights with MH, and back to SYD with AirAsiaX. This time we are only going to hang around the Kansai area, but there's so much to see.

Have a fantastic time on your travels!
18 September 2013 at 22:35
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