I took the northbound train from Takataki to Kazusakawama Station.
It’s rare to find a station in the Tokyo metropolitan area where the phrase “standing all alone in the rice paddies” fits so perfectly.
Nestled among the satoyama, rice paddies, and field paths, the station stands beneath a cherry tree at the end of a path lined with rapeseed flowers.
The cherry blossoms were truly magnificent.
As for the rice paddies, I suppose they’ve just started flooding them in preparation for planting.
In these photos, the rural landscape and blue sky take center stage. I considered the train to be more of a supporting role.
By the way, here’s what the scenery looks like at the “small station in the rice fields” when there are no trains around. It’s lovely in its own way.
Actually, I made a major mistake on this photo shoot. During my preliminary research, I misread the timetable and wasted a lot of time waiting endlessly for a special train that wasn’t even scheduled to come. On top of that, my trip to the next shooting location was delayed by over an hour, forcing me to completely give up on photographing one train.
However, looking at it another way, considering that I was able to recharge my batteries by lingering in this pleasant rural setting, perhaps it wasn’t the worst mistake after all, even if I did mess up.
So, I walked the 20-odd minutes to the neighboring Kazusa-Tsurumai Station (walking between stations here is actually part of the plan since they’re close together), and here is the photo I took.
The station building, the graceful curve of the tracks, and the beautiful cherry blossoms. Actually, there was supposed to be a stopped train right in the center of this photo. But since I managed to take a photo that’s plenty beautiful even without the train, I’ll just have to accept that this turned out fine as it is.
From Kazusa-Tsurumai, I’m heading next to Itabu Station.
