Rice field route

Here's a neat view of the Sobu Line between here and Naruto. Nowhere else in the world could you get this kind of a view. A 1067mm (three foot six inch) gauge single track but laid to the highest of main line standards stretches to the horizon and expresses down this tangent will touch 80 mph. DC electrification and all beautifully maintained.

Down each side of the track is a rice field road. And beyond that some frozen weed covered tanbo - our standard kind of rice paddy in Japan. Hard to imagine that in a couple of months frogs will be croaking here and the young green plants will be standing in shallow lakes.

It's a mid winter evening in 2004 and I'm waiting for the down Shiosai to pass. Of course I've been keeping warm in the car and enjoying some bags of snacks. Heaven eh? Who could ask for a happier place to be than by some busy lineside?