I'd like to write about Hakone Tozan Railway, which is the sister-railway of Rhötische Bahn in Switzerland, which is the biggest-class private railway in Switzerland and is also called Viafier retica in the Romansch language or Ferrovia retica in Italian. I'm familiar with German, so I used the German expression.
We were going down to Odawara City near sea level today using this railway. It was my first time to utilize Hakone Tozan Railway. It has three switchbacks in a short distance and I was looking forward to actually experiencing those.
Hakone is located in precipitous terrain and a barrier station or a checkpoint had been sited in the Edo period from 17th to the middle of 19th century. Hakone is on the main route connecting two big cities of Edo (present Tokyo) and Kamigata (present Osaka). Hakone is such a place that it has several historic sites along with hot spas. Additionally you have to remember the geo-scientific aspect of Hakone. It's in the middle of a volcanic area. I'll write about this aspect in another entry.
According to the railway company's pamphlet, the sister-railway relationship with Rhötische Bahn was struck in 1979. At the 50th anniversary of Hakone being listed on Japan's national park, i.e. 7 years after entering the partnership, a few dozen people from St. Moritz Tourism Bureau visited Hakone for the purpose of promotion. A splendid party seemed to be held at that time. St. Moritz is one of my destinations which I'd like to visit some day.
Back to the track, the small train in which we got on clumsily went down the steep slope, back and forth 3 times on the switch back, through the forest which is dotted with small hot spas, and finally reached Odawara City. This city is filled with historic heritage and local food, but we transferred to a Shinkansen bullet train and headed for Yokohama.
What do you think we were going to do in Yokohama? I'll report it to you in the next entry.
(Vocabulary)
precipitous 切り立った, 険しい〈谷･崖･傾斜など〉; 突然の, 急な〈減少･増加など〉; （かたく）性急な, 軽率な〈行動･決定など〉
関所 《pass》 a barrier (station); 《pass through》 a checkpoint (検問所).
clumsily 不細工に, 不格好に; (動作について) ぎこちなく, 不器用に
Comments