2. Museum Review: The Railway Museum (Saitama)

This year, the JR East opened 'The Railway Museum' as the centerpiece of their 20th Anniversary Memorial Project. It is located in Onari, Saitama; less than an hour by train from the center of Tokyo.

Most of the building is filled with real trains, 35 of them to be exact. They include 6 cars used by the Imperial Family, and Japan's first locomotive, which was built in Britain (1871) for Japan's first railway line linking Shimbashi to Yokohama. For anyone with an interest in trains, this exhibition is impressive.

It is possible to go inside many of the trains, and there are elaborate miniatures for closer examination.

On two 2nd floor 'balconies' located above the trains is a 'Railway History Chronological Table'. There are many interesting historical artifacts, but it is unfortunate that for a brand new museum, very little is labeled in English.

In the other half of the museum is Japan's largest HO gauge railway model diorama, a learning hall, interactive exhibits based on power and brake systems, kid spaces filled with railway toys, and even train operation simulators (500 yen).

I am not a big train buff, but I did really enjoy seeing the 35 different trains. For a child or adult who loves trains, this museum is heaven!

Entrance Fees: Adults 1000 yen, child (elementary - high school) 500, preschool 200.

Hours of Operation: 10:00 - 18:00 (last entry 17:30). Closed on Tuesday, and during the New Year's holidays.

For directions on how to get there, check out the official English site: http://www.railway-museum.jp/en/index.html

Although the website says not to drive, we found parking without any problem. That said, getting there by train is faster and easier (Ueno Station to Omiya on the JR Takasaki Line (25 min.), then take the New Shuttle Line to Tetsudo Hakubutsukan Station (3 min.). 630 yen total.

1. Sightseeing Review: Mt. Tsukuba (Ibaraki-ken)

The city of Tsukuba was incorporated in 1987 by merging 5 villages and towns, and was declared a 'science city' in the process. In the relocation of prominent research and educational facilities from Tokyo to less congested regions, Tsukuba has truly become a city of science. 45 national research and academic institutions are located here, including the University of Tsukuba, the KEK High Energy Research Center, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Over 230 private companies, both domestic and International, operate laboratories here as well. The city is home to 12,000 researchers, 3000 have doctorates.

In August of 2005, a new train service from Akihabara made its way to Tsukuba. The trip takes only 45 minutes. I remembered hearing about the area, but I had never visited, so we decided to take a day trip there.

Our destination was Tsukuba City and Mt. Tsukuba, which is actually a clump of smaller mountains, cut off from the central chain of mountains running the length of Honshu.

The city itself was nothing special. Just a flat, grid pattern filled with science-related institutions, standard Japanese apartments/housing, and an unlimited number of chain restaurants and stores. Perhaps the station area is nicer, but as we were traveling by car, we didn't visit that section. I did see an advertisement that said bicycles could be 'rented' for free, from locations all over town, for exploring.

To reach Mt. Tsukuba, we drove from one side of town to the other. Just outside the city center, the roads are flanked with old pachinko parlors, abandoned store fronts, and used car lots. So far, we were not impressed.

We finally turned off this main road and began to climb. There were some nice traditional Japanese homes, and views improved. We reached the large torii gate that marks the entrance to Tsukuba Shrine and decided to park and walk around. There are some large, city-owned parking lots charging 500 yen a day. All private lots in the area charge the same.
A short walking trail through the woods from the shrine is a 4.5 hectare plum orchard, with over 1000 plum trees planted in on a mountain slope. We were lucky to have hit Tsukuba-san's 'Plum Festival', which runs from February 17 to March 21. The trees are planted among rocky outcrops and walking trails, the fragrance of the blossoms was wonderful. Specialties of the area, plum tea and toad oil were on sale. Toad oil is supposedly good for your health, and this area is famous for it (mostly for the outrageous claims of toad oil salesmen long ago). An observation platform at the top gave a wonderful view of the orchard and valley below. We enjoyed the festival for a while then walked back to the shrine up the road. Directly below the shrine is a collection of rundown souvenir shops, and boarded up buildings. Everything in sight, even the two main hotels, looked as if they had seen better days.
The shrine itself is a very old one. Its name appears in poems written in the 8th and 10th century. It is famous for its 800kg, toad-shaped mikoshi (portable shrine), which was not on view the day I visited. Unfortunately, the grounds of the shrine have been surrounded by rundown tourist facilities. These facilities include a rope way, which lies just above the shrine. We bought some tickets, the round trip fee was 1020 yen. The climb of the rope way was impressive. I have never been on such a long, steep rope way slope before. The problem was Miyukigahara, the lookout point at the top. On a really clear day, the view of the Kanto Plain is probably a good one. The day we visited was hazy, so there wasn't much of a view and there was absolutely nothing else to see.
Miyukigahara lies between, and a short 5 minute hike from, the twin summits of Nantai-san (870m) and Nyotai-san (876m) - all of which makes up 'Mt. Tsukuba'. We could have walked up to the top of summit, but I wasn't wearing proper footwear for hiking. I did see some photos afterwards of the hiking trail that leads up the mountain (from the bottom of the rope way), and of the summits themselves. There are some interesting small shrines and some great rocky outcrops. If you ever visit Mt. Tsukuba make sure it is a very clear day, take the rope way up and hike back down. Otherwise, don't bother coming here at all.

Upon leaving the shrine, we passed some so-so looking hot spring facilities, and then drove down a 'skyline' that originates at a cable car that also goes to the top of Mt. Tsukuba (we didn't see the cable car). The views from the skyline were nice, and although a fee is usually charged, it was free the day we were there.

All in all, Tsukuba is not worth visiting unless there is some kind of science related function to attend. The hiking in Nikko, Chichibu, Hakone,... is far superior to that on Tsukuba-san. I can honestly say that this is one location in Japan that I will probably never visit again.

That said, I was impressed with the English language websites connected with Tsukuba. For more information on the area:

http://blog.alientimes.org/

http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/hp/e_hp/

By car, Tsukuba is about an hour and a half drive from Tokyo, along the Joban Expressway.