Train Journey Around Japan Starting from Shizuoka Heading East for Now【18】

The story of my trip around Japan using an 18-ticket during the summer vacation of my fourth year in university.

It was my first solo journey, with no plans or objectives.

The rough itinerary was as follows:
9 days in Eastern Japan → 2 days for climbing Mount Fuji → 9 days in Western Japan

The decision to go on this trip was made just a few days before departure. I was contemplating on doing something during my last summer as a student,

(It might be interesting to travel around Japan)

I thought, and decided on a whim. I packed a 20L backpack with essentials like a change of clothes for three days, a smartphone, money, and a toothbrush. The preparation took about an hour.

When I told my parents, “I’m going to travel around Japan starting tomorrow,” they surprisingly accepted it smoothly with a “Okay.”

And so, the departure day came around quite effortlessly.

Since it was summer vacation, I had been living a nocturnal life, so waking up before 7 am to depart was still tough. However, I woke up early and set out because I didn’t want to waste one use of the 18-ticket.

My mother drove me to the first station.

"Yaizu Station"

At the starting point, I hadn’t decided on a destination, not even whether to head east or west. (I had decided on the number of days for some reason.)

While waiting for the train at the platform, the first one to arrive was bound for Atami. It was only when I boarded this train that I decided to start my journey from Eastern Japan.

At that time, I was still in a light-hearted mood, thinking, (If it gets tough, I can always go back home) as I sat on the train.

This was the first station where I got off during this long journey.

"Atami Station"

It felt very fresh to get off and tour around a station I had passed by many times before.

The seaside of Atami in the peak of summer was extremely hot. The road from the station to the sea was sloped, especially the way back was tiring. Being a hot spring area, even the manhole covers had hot spring designs.

After a brief sightseeing, I headed to the next station.

"Odawara Station"

The weather was really nice.

I changed trains at Omiya Station and headed to the next station.

"Takasaki Station"

While looking around at this station, a man claiming to be a Korean exchange student invited me to a “dinner party.” The offer of a free meal was tempting, but since it was the first day of my trip, I declined. In hindsight, it seemed like a suspicious invitation...

Heading north from Takasaki, the train stopped at stations I had never heard of before.

"Minakami Station"

To put it nicely, it was a place surrounded by nature; to put it bluntly, there was nothing there. Being held up at this station for two hours taught me to check the destination and train frequency before moving on from the next day onwards. Lol.

Although I’m not interested in railways, I was excited just to see a type of train I had never seen before.

"Niigata Station"

I arrived just before 10 pm.

On the first day, I decided to spend the night at a manga cafe near the station. It was my first time staying at a manga cafe, but I fell asleep quickly due to exhaustion.