A tram affair!

I was not expecting to fall in love in Toyama...

The most noticeable thing around the city centre is the relative lack of cars (maybe it was because of the summer holiday) but also the gentle rumble of the city's trams! And they all look so cool - variously wrapped, some old, some very modern, getting people around town in simple comfort & and on time.

There are a number of routes, as you can see from the route map, with departures every 10-15 minutes; fares are cheap & there are a number of special offers, such as a one day pass.

The city's official website says:

 "In 2006, the former Toyama Port Line was reborn as Toyama Light Rail (Portram).

With its sleek design and low-floor vehicles that make boarding easy, the new system quickly gained attention and made access to the Toyama Port area far more convenient.



7000 series, types 1 & 2 (yellow)
In 2015, city streetcars began operating at the newly built Toyama Station stop beneath the Shinkansen viaduct.

Following the completion of the conventional railway’s elevation in 2019, the long-awaited north–south connection was achieved on March 21, 2020.

This marked the completion of a seamless streetcar network centered around Toyama Station.

Today, Toyama’s streets are shared by a diverse fleet of streetcars.

These include the circular Centram line in the city center, north–south routes such as Portram and Santram, modern low-floor vehicles,
as well as classic and retro-style streetcars that retain a nostalgic charm."

 

Postcard from Omiya, Saitama Pref., Japan

 Hi everyone at Luna, and fellow trainspotters & "anoraks"!

Hokuriku line - Asama

I was lucky enough to finally get the train to Sapporo for work - Cambridge speaking examiner training & certification - and thoroughly enjoyed the trip (although I stupidly left my tickets sitting on my desk in Matsumoto...another story some day?!). I have taken this Tokkaido line before, but only as far as Hachinohe. I've wanted to experience the whole extension to Hakodate & the Seikan Tunnel for absolutely ages.

I still cannot believe how quickly the shinkansen rolling stock for the Hokuriku line were replaced after 1/3 of the fleet were converted to submarines by flooding from Typhoon Hakibis = first leg of the bullet train love-in. Asama still smell new!

Shinkansen fans will love Omiya station (and its nearby railway museum - which I should visit...). Shinkansen constantly pulling in & departing (precisely on time, of course), of all sleek shapes & liveries.

Conjoined Shinkansen

There was a national panic recently when ONE coupling failed and the whole JR infrastructure was in danger of falling to pieces...NOT. Its the amazing safety record of these things that a single mishap shines the light on incredible maintenance & attention to detail! Such conjoined trains decouple further north to split onto different routes (as a passenger you do not notice - unless you're sitting in the wrong half of the train and end up in Yamagata...)

My Hayabusa whooshed out of Omiya & within an hour was pulling up at Sendai, smooth as silk. Frustratingly for work though, the wifi is really rubbish & I was in a middle seat without a power socket. The northern part of Honshu glowed green in late summer, with the approaching typhoon now 'behind' me. Diving into the Seikan Tunnel was prefaced with an announcement over the PA - and then darkness & loss of signal, pretty much like the dark side of the moon! A welcomely uneventful 58km of sensational engineering, 250m below the seabed!

Jewel in the crown - Hayabusa

Soon enough, detraining at the Shin-Hakodate terminus for a the rattler ride on to Sapporo, and the  contrast of  the local line to shinkansen construction work yonder; paused I've heard because the tunnel borer has got itself jammed into a tunnel & can't reverse out...might take a while then! 

Verdict = a lot more relaxing than flying, and not divorced from bags or having to check in & sit around with an over-priced coffee. An awesomely smooth journey!

Postcard from...Tsuruga, Fukui

Northern Japanese Alps, from Toyoshina station

I took a detour recently to knock off a couple of bucket list train trips.

Firstly, I wanted to ride the recently extended Hokuriku Shinkansen all the way around the north coast to its new terminus at Tsuruga...and ideally explore that corner of Fukui and the northern coast of Kyoto. Unfortunately, that part of the coastline will have to wait for another visit, I think by car, given the relative inaccessibility of the area & the less the less than easy to get to places I'd really like to explore, around Wakasa Bay, without having to rush to make connections.

The earliest Shinano from Matsumoto was a beautiful autumnal sunrise ride, the Northern Alps beyond Azumino to the left (west) before the Chikuma valley appeared after the tunnels either side of  sleepy  Omi/Hijiri-kogen. And what an appearance - spreading out to the north with Nagano city sprawled in the middle. A fairly unique train journey given the climb the line makes to cross from Shinshu to Chikuma (the two geographical & historical halves of modern Nagano prefecture).

If you want some anorak information about Shinano click here and for the route, here

JR East E7

From Nagano you won't get much of a view, as the line carves through a number of tunnels at light speed - this train really does get a shift on. Super smooth, and before you know it you're cutting the corner of Niigata prefecture and decelerating into Toyama with the Sea of Japan on your right already. Eyes left (south) for a stunning mountainscape. This part of the line, openned in 2015 is extremely swift!

Our shinkansen slows down after Kanazawa, dropping south through Ichikawa & Fukui prefectures with fewer and fewer passengers. This stretch of line only openned in March this year (2024); Tsuraga obviously not the final intended stop. I am sure, once the final leg is finished to Osaka (in another 20 years' time?) the route will open up the region - and not soon enough - the Noto peninsula desperately needs better transport access & investment to recover from the hammer blows of earthquake & typhoon damage this year.

Kagayaki: Tokyo–Tsuruga, limited-stop service, since 14 March 2015
Hakutaka: Tokyo–Tsuruga, mostly all-stations service, since 14 March 2015
Tsurugi: Toyama–Tsuruga, mostly all-stations shuttle service, since 14 March 2015
Asama: Tokyo–Nagano, mostly all-stations service, corresponding to existing Nagano Shinkansen service introduced in 1997

Follow the yellow (or blue!) brick road

And what of Tsuruga? No time to explore the town but just enough to find a nest of Thunderbirds, the aged limited express that used to service the line up to Kanazawa from Osaka/Kyoto, hugging the shore of Lake Biwa. The views of the lake are limited, unfortunately, especially if you are not sitting by the window & cannot keep the curtain up. My fellow foreign travellers glued to games on their phones/and ignoring the historic sites across the water. Really, really frustrating ignorance (and your enormous suitcases are even more annoying).


Familiar limited express rolling stock (JR-West 683-4000); comfy enough but looks & feels 'tired'...good enough for my needs and the relatively short trundle to Osaka - the non-shinkansen line from Kyoto taking a little more time, but divested of the tourons a chance to enjoy the suburban corridor. No rush!

Kissing Thuderbirds, Tsuruga station

I'm glad I made the effort to sweep around the "Hokuriku Arch" - an area begging to be discovered more slowly. There is a rail pass for this region that would be good value & allow travellers to stop over & linger for a whole week. Inner trainspotter satisfied!

You have ten minutes remaining

The sound of pens and pencils furiously scribbling as the clock counts down. Oh yes, exams again!

Luna's venue in Hokuriku hosted its first KET & PET session on November 23rd. Jim drove through the very early morning freezing rain and sleet to be there help the school get started, and also to conduct the speaking tests with one of our recently trained new oral examiners. Jim had to let her do all the hard work as he had a bad cold and could barely speak - well done Mo!
Meanwhile our Tokyo venue once again ran a smooth session concurrently, for which we need to give a lot of credit to Trevor and Chie, and thank Reiko at Westgate for helping us sort out OEs. We are going to be on a big OE recruiting drive in 2009, which will be an exciting year for us (more news on that soon).

The first weekend of December means First Certificate of English (FCE). The Gold Standard!My favourite exam for several reason, two obvious ones being it is the reason I got interested in Cambridge (UCLES) exams in the first place, and that I believe it is an achievable goal for all of our students at Luna. This is the first time we have run FCE on a Saturday at two venues; with Yukari's help, Eleanor's co-operation, and Tana's generousity with her free-time, candidates sat the test in Matsumoto. Hijiri also spent his first day without mum Yuki, who left home at 4.30am to supervise the Tokyo sitting at Oxford University Press's headquarters, driving down with Jim; a busy day for Luna's family!

OUP looked after us superbly, and we are very grateful to Colin for all his help, and to OUP as usual for their kindness and generosity.

Jim's other "hat"

My day job is teaching, as you all probably know! However, with Luna's growing responsibilities as the busiest Cambridge ESOL Centre in Japan, there is so much more to do in a week!

At the moment we are making sure that candidates can still take First Certificate (FCE), Advanced (CAE) and Proficiency (CPE) in Tokyo this December. (The British Council shamefully decided to stop accepting candidates from outside its own school.) We are also arranging KET & PET exams to take place in Niigata, here, and in Tokyo in November. We are also arranging Young Learners (YLE) to take place in Hokkaido, Ishikawa, here & Tokyo in November & December.

Is that all? No! As well as running the exam sessions, we are also responsible for training & co-ordinating all the Oral Examiners - who give the speaking tests. That means we run workshops for experienced teachers all over the place. This weekend...Jim ran a two-day course in Kanazawa, training a group of teachers to become YLE examiners.

Fortunately, the people at Hokuriku Gakuin are very well organised, and have already run two YLE sessions at their school. Having local examiners makes sense - it's a long way for Jim to drive! As you can see, everybody worked hard - the training is NOT easy - and managed to enjoy the work as well. I am looking forward to our newest OEs getting the chance to examine soon; after their hard work over the weekend, I'm sure they'll do very well indeed! Next training will be in Tokyo in November.