A long time ago Wilf heard/read about an excursion from Tokyo that sounded like a fun way to spend the day. It never seemed to fit into our itinerary – until today! And even that was touch and go as the weather has been iffy. But today was a lovely day.
The southwest entrance to Tokyo Bay is a peninsula – the Miura peninsula. There is a private rail line that runs almost to the end of the peninsula – to the town of Misakiguchi. A little further along is the port of Misaki, which is home to a tuna fishing fleet. The towns and the rail line have put together a package that makes a great day trip from Tokyo.
Wilf had assembled instructions on how it all worked, but we were a little uncertain as we set out this morning.
First thing was to get from where we are staying on the eastern side of Tokyo to Shinagawa Station in the southwest. This included a pretty wild ride on the JR Yamanote line during the morning rush, but we did it. The Keikyu line starts at Shinagawa, but it is not part of the JR system, so first we had to find our way out of the station, We had to ignore the ticket gate that said you could transfer from JR to Keikyu, but only if you already had a Keikyu ticket, which we did not. We went out of the station, turned left and found the Keikyu ticket office. Where they did not sell the tickets we needed, but the lady there had a series of big laminated cards that showed how to use the ticket machine in English mode to get the tickets. Back outside and we figured out which of the four ticket machines would actually sell the ticket we wanted – it was the one on the far left. And sure enough we were able to buy two sets of the Misaki Maguro tickets. Now we each had three tickets in hand. Ticket A is for train and bus fare. Ticket B is for lunch. Ticket C is for sightseeing or souvenirs. Through the ticket gate with Ticket A (which returned by the turnstile for the rest of the journey) and to our surprise we found the train – a limited express to Misakiguchi. The limited express part was important because we were getting on at station 1 and getting off at station 72 and stopping at Every Station would have been a bit much. The station was zoo because one of the Keikyu lines goes to Haneda airport and there were lots of people wrangling suitcases through the station.
The train was quite crowded until about Yokohama and thinned out after that. We did have to get off the train and wait for another to continue the journey at one point, but by that time it was pretty obvious that everyone was going to the same place so we all hung out together and hopped on the next train. It took about 90 minutes and we were in Misakiguchi town. Our information told us that bus #2 would meet the train and take us to the port, so we joined the crowd and hopped on the bus for a ride to the port.
Misaki town is a fishing town. A tuna town. In particular, maguro tuna, the really good stuff. One of the many things that I don’t understand about Japanese is why some words are written in kanji and some are written in hirigana, which represents the sound of the word. Sometimes it works to my advantage. Maguro is written phonetically, not in kanji, so as we walked around I could read the signs まぐろ。Lots to choose from! And we were on a roll – we had to use a machine to put ourselves on the wait list for the restaurant, which we did, and then when they called our number – I actually understood her! I was pretty pleased with myself.
We had a choice of several dishes and we both ordered the same thing – the tuna special! The large bowl had three slices of maguro tuna – it is the red tuna. Three slices of albacore tuna – the pale slices. A scoop of chopped tuna and green onion (from the cheek of the tuna). These were all sashimi – raw. There was also a bowl of miso soup, a dish of pickles and a dish of marinated cooked tuna. In the sashimi bowl (which had rice under the fish) there were also two pieces of rolled omelette. It was a substantial meal! And it was delicious! Included unlimited cold barley tea, too. And at the end we handed over Ticket B and went on our merry way.
After lunch we decided to rent e-bikes and go across the bridge to Jagoshima Island to admire the views and the geology. Somehow we thought the bridge would be a small affair.
We were a little taken aback when we realized that was the bridge. How would we get up there? Turns out the port people knew we’d ask that and there were markings on the road to direct us. We were still uncertain but we found our way through the port and up to the bridge. There was a wide protected sidewalk so we decided that we could manage that. I was a little taken aback as I was whizzing along and a guy on a bike zoomed past me on the road way, but we crossed the bridge and found our way to a rest stop. We were reviewing our maps and drinking lemonade when a couple in wedding garb appeared, bouquets of flower in hand along with a couple of photographers. Okay – guess a sunny Friday afternoon is a good time for pictures. We said congratulations – おめでとう！as they went by, A few minutes later another pair with photographers – and their little dog in a tiny little tuxedo- passed us. Okay then – congrats to you too! As we rode out of the parking lot another car pulled up with a a woman in a wedding dress.
But we were off, riding along the path, pulling off at look outs. And at the second one….
Do you see the bride down on the beach – she has her back to us with the train of her dress displayed.
This was the shot they were aiming for with the bridal couple framed in the arch of stone. And there were lots of people on the rocks, hanging out and fishing. I was hoping that someone was in charge of watching the tide so they wouldn’t have to swim back.
Up above on the cliffs there were lots of trees that are wind swept in permanent curved shapes and the path has been cut through the trees making very scenic arch ways. We’re zipping along the path, come around a corner and yikes – another bridal party! By the time we were finished we passed six groups. Avoiding mowing down brides was only part of the problem. At one point we ran into a dead end. No more bike path. We were puzzling this out and saw a slightly muddy goat trail to one side, and through the trees some cars so we thought – okay, this will get us back to civilization. So now we’re off riding through the forest! Until we hit a flight of shallow steps. Well, dang it. Those e-bikes are heavy, but we got down to the bottom, turned onto the path, met another bride and groom and popped out into a parking lot.
Usually when I tell stories like I’m sure people are thinking to themselves ‘remind me never to go anywhere with those two ‘
We knew that there was a small ferry that would would go back to the port where we started and by this time we were thinking that we really didn’t want to have to go back up to that bridge and them back down again. And – sure enough – the ferry would come soon and we could either leave the bikes with the dock master there, or take them on the ferry and wind up back where we started. So that is what we did!
We’re not the first people to put the bikes on the ferry!
Short ride past the LPG carrier.
And if you are wondering what we did with Ticket C – there was a little shop where we could get gelato and a coffee with our ticket, so that is what we did.
The documentation that Wilf had put together about the trip and what to do and where to go was really excellent. We’re kind of far off the beaten track here and English is pretty sketchy, but we managed. But one really critical piece of information could be added to the whole thing – you can take your bike on the ferry and go across to Jagoshima Island that way – and then come back! No big bridge required!!!
We had just finished our gelato when the bus arrived and back to Misakiguchi station we went. 90 minutes later we were in Shinagawa station. And look who put in an appearance on our way back….
Can you see Mt Fuji peaking out just to the left of the setting sun?
And we arrived back at Shinagawa station just past 5:00 on a Friday night, which was not unlike entering the 7th circle of hell, but we got back to our hotel and are quite pleased with ourselves and our little adventure.
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