Japanese Commuter Diaries

Intro here. They are flooding the rice paddies now. The vistas of dirt fields are now filled with water; transformed into wetland almost overnight. In the evening light, they reflect the sky and mountains behind; like a placid lake segmented by the grids of paddy walls. Looking down at the nearby paddies from the train, … Continue reading Japanese Commuter Diaries

Japanese Commuter Diaries

INTRO HERE On the train. In the daytime, the outside world offers itself as entertainment. Always something new to be seen. Some subtle thing about a place that I missed before. This is my morning leg. But what of the night? In the dark, the outside view is gone: obliterated by the bright light in … Continue reading Japanese Commuter Diaries

Japanese Commuter Diaries

Intro here. On the train. Between my terminal stations, there are multiple stops on my train ride. The “rapid” version has about five stops. The regular, more. Three of the stops are fairly big country stations. Two are for towns. The other is for an onsen resort village. Onsen are Japanese hot spring spas. Basically … Continue reading Japanese Commuter Diaries

Commuting on the Local Japanese Train

I live in the mountains of central Tohoku, Japan. Every workday, I commute about an hour each way by local train. The line I take cuts through numerous rural villages and natural areas, including a scenic volcano with ski resorts. It’s beautiful. There’s a rhythm to the train that I love. The rocking of the … Continue reading Commuting on the Local Japanese Train