At the risk of being locked up for too many stories about trains in Japan, here’s one more.
“It’s barely 6am, yet already some 30 photographers are taking up positions on the No 1 Tadami River Bridge Viewpoint, high above the Tadami River. The sun hasn’t been up long enough to burn off the morning mist, which garlands the forested mountains surrounding the river.
“Drifting river mists are a part of life along the Tadami as it flows through the Oku Aizu region of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. According to local lore, shape-shifting mountain gods roam inside the mist.”
I WANT TO GO THERE ALREADY.
Here, have a photo:
Catch a whop of that! Gorgeous.
“Tohoku is an ideal destination for those seeking to get back to nature and escape the crowds one normally associates with Japan. A meagre 2 per cent of the country’s foreign visitors in 2019 ventured this far. If at all, most foreigners know Fukushima – one of the six prefectures that make up Tohoku – only as the site of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of the region in March 2011.”
And then there was Kenkou.
“Ken Hoshi had long been convinced the region had enormous tourist potential. The 70-year-old local has been photographing the Oku Aizu area 300 days a year for 25 years, often capturing the sight of the little Tadami train chugging through misty valleys, enchanted forests and towering mountains against an ever-changing backdrop of deep winter snows, spring cherry blossoms, summer mists and fiery autumn foliage. Hoshi began posting his photos on Facebook and then visited Taiwan to exhibit his photos and promote his homeland. The response was staggering.
“There used to be basically no one, other than the locals, walking around the streets of Oku Aizu,” Hoshi explains, via email. “Recently [before international travel was brought to halt by the coronavirus pandemic], however, we’ve begun to see not only Japanese visitors but even people from abroad.”
“I am forever grateful to the people of Taiwan,” Hoshi says. “Many of them have visited us more than 10 times.”
Let’s forget that they probably flew to Japan to do so, just for today.
There are several things I love about this. One: It looks amazing. Two: the idea of getting out there 300 days a year for 25 years and THEN becoming famous! Talk about dedication!
Here’s another one of Ken’s photos, from winter:
Blimey Charley!