I grew up in a rural area of USA and frequently walked or bicycled long distances. This usually entailed traversing along a narrow strip of crumbling pavement on the outside of the white line. Even clinging to this slender shoulder, cars would whiz past at high speeds and frightfully close without giving any extra accommodation, clearance or consideration to more vulnerable road users.
All too commonly, as vehicles sped past occupants would shout out, “Get off the road!” There is a segment of people in USA that drive aggressively and see pedestrians or bicyclists as mere annoyances to their automotive travel. Bicyclists would LOVE to get off the road, in any country, but there are few places where they can. Increasingly, there needs to be more safe infrastructure to support pedestrian and bicycling travel.
The USA has a very high amount of road deaths but a low percentage of pedestrian or bicyclist deaths related to overall road fatalities compared to other countries because so few people walk or ride there. For the same reason, there are few accommodations made for those not traveling by motorized transportation. The number of fatalities per bicyclist or walker are however alarmingly high.
Kyoto is developing bike lanes on several major streets
Japan has really very few actual bike paths so bikers must make a hybrid experience of biking with the flow of traffic and using sidewalks where they exist. Only the most crowded sidewalks in the busiest districts of cities are banned to bikes.
While European countries have many exclusive bike paths separated by barriers from cars or its own route and USA has increasingly added “rail trails” by converting former train tracks to paved bike paths, Japan has very few exclusive paths for cycling and pedestrians.
Neyagawa pedestrian/bike path following a small stream Photo Credit: RIchard Trombly
Luckily the drivers in Japan are for the most part safe and courteous and the rural roads have low traffic volume because the roads are narrow and sidewalks or bike routes are few. In fact there are only three approved national cycle routes in Japan according to government bicycle culture advocate Good Cycle Japan and these involve primarily road riding.
In many cities, there is little for bikes to do except to cruise the sidewalks. That is hardly an ideal solution because it brings bikers into close contact with pedestrians and is slow progress for cyclists and presents an obstacle course to maneuver. Admittedly, many central business districts do offer wide sidewalks with red lanes designed for bike travel.
Typical Japanese bike lane. Photo credit: Richard Trombly
However, where there are “bike lanes,” many are little more than a string of blue arrows near the shoulder of the traffic lane and the occasional image of a bike. This provides no actual protection for the bikes and frequently, cars park or travel in this space.
That is starting to change. Cities are adding more cycling accommodations like the meter-wide red trails along several major thoroughfares in Kyoto or similar blue lanes on several of Osaka’s main roads. Another accommodation is a separated trail along elevated highways like the Osaka-Kyoto’s route 1.
Route 1 provides a separated bike and pedestrian lane and safe cross-over bridges. Photo credit: Richard Trombly
A more scenic way to safely walk or travel is the many riverside trails built on the flood control area near rivers, including the Yodogawa riverside trail that will take you from Osaka’s Kita area to downtown Kyoto in off-road safety.
There are also many smaller pedestrian paths that parallel a narrow road, designed get pedestrians off the road or a strip of parkland between one-way travel lanes such as the path leading north from Tsurumi Park in the northeastern area of Osaka.
A narrow park placed between opposing one-lane streets photo credit: Richard Trormbly
I was happy to see that Google recently expanded its mapping to include cycle routing. Since that addition, I have found many new stretches of pedestrian lanes that I had not explored and it has been routing me through neighborhoods where there are few cars and many delightful sights to explore.
Bike ownership in Japan has been steadily on the rise and as concerns about the environment increase, there will be more pedestrian and bicycle traffic. There is also increased interest in biking and walking from fitness as well as simple recreational strolls or rides. For tourism, safety and a more sustainable urban infrastructure, Japan needs to continue to develop these important features.
Paralleling a narrow, unsafe street is this pedestrian way with an inviting brook. Photo credit: Richard Trombly
“Get off the road.” In Kansai, it requires a little extra effort and planning, but more and more, we are able to get off the road. I hope the local government continues to fund and develop infrastructures for safe riding and pedestrians so that we can get off the road.
When one envisions Japan, a bullet train speeding between vast cities is one of the most iconic images. Amid the robust rail network traveled by long trains moving at breakneck speeds, Kansai’s Hojo Railway operates at an entirely different pace.
With 13.6 km of rail and only 8 stations on its single line, it is a charming step into the past for tourists but also remains an essential lifeline between the towns of Kasai and Ono in rural Hyogo province.
The brightly-colored passenger locomotive “Flower-2” diesels into Ao Station, Ono. Photo Credit: Richard Trombly
Flowers 1, 2 and 3
Railway lines crisscross Japan in a 30,625 km network with two-thirds of that belonging to JR, a group of companies that were formed with the privatization of the Japan National Railways in 1949. Most of the remaining rail lines serving the over 7 billion annual rides are with major regional rail lines.
Hojo Railway, opened in 1915, however, humbly operates its single line. Brightly-colored diesel-powered cars run on the antiquated 1.067 meter narrow-gauge rails, while most of Japan has adopted the standard-gauge 1.435 meter tracks. There trains, named “Flower-1, -2 and -3, are a single-unit commuter rail much like a subway train and even though it could pull additional rolling stock, there is only the single locomotive car with a capacity of 55 seats and about the same number of standing passengers.
Ono is a small but prosperous industrial city famed for exceptional quality “banshu” scissors, knives and razor-sharp scythes as well as abacus makers. It attracts many from Kobe for a day trip or weekend out of the city to enjoy a hike on the Monogatari range, rocky hills under 200 meters known as the “Ono Alps” and to enjoy the natural hot springs. It lies inland and west of Kobe along the route to Tamba-Sassayama and the northern coast.
Touching The Third Rail
If you board the Hojo Railway at that Ao station terminal in Ono, you will find that the station is a JR station and the ticket machine does not offer Hojomachi or Kasai as a destination. If you ask the JR station master he will point to one turn-style that is open and will tell you to go to track 3. There are only signs for track 1 or 2 and no other platform is visible but the station master indicates to head towards track 2 by a pedestrian bridge. The third rail finally becomes visible, an overgrown narrow-gauge track veering off from the JR rail lines which connect Ono to the cities Kobe and Himeji in one direction and the villages of Kato and Tamba in the other.
Passengers disembark at Hojomachi Station, Kasai, Hyogo. Photo credit: Richard Trombly
A Link to the Past
Except for spring cherry blossom or autumn leaf viewing season, one might not expect this train to carry many passengers but it is a link to bring day hikers from Kobe to the historic World War II remains of Uzurano Airbase and the brisk climb up to the vistas of Furubokke Nature Park. It is also an essential lifeline for Kasai residents to get anywhere by public transportation via transfer at Ao.
The Runway and hangars of the Uzurano Airfield memorialize this former WWII training base. Photo Courtesy of Kita-Harima Regional Tourism Assn.
While an array of vacationing families and day-tripping elderly in full hiking gear queue up to board the train at Ao, locals arriving from Kasai and the farm villages along the way disembark to do business or, luggage in tow, head to the JR platform for parts unknown.
Find Your Own Pace
Though the Shinkansen trains speed along at over 300 km/hr, the Flower locomotives make the trip to from end-to-end in a leisurely 22 minutes. It is a chance to leave the city behind and truly find a countryside experience just an hour away from Kobe.
The Hojo Railway traverses rural countryside with views of nearby mountain ranges and pastoral farmlands. Photo credit: Richard Trombly
As the train pulls out of Ao Station it almost immediately plunges into a tunnel of forest encroaching on the overgrown tracks, leaving the cityscape of Ono behind. When the train emerges, it feels like being magically transported into a distant countryside. The train traverses a carpet of green farmlands and quaint farmhouses to service the historic stations on its way to Kasai.
Plan to have plenty of coins since transit cards like the ICOCA are not accepted and there is only a station master staffing the Hojomachi station terminal in Kasai. You pay as you exit, so if you are getting off it is hard for the conductor to make change. Full fare is 420 yen and half fare for children. The fare table can be found at the Hojo Railway website. The midway stations are also not staffed but some of these quaint old stations are historic landmarks and may have a concessions booth within.
Hokkeguchi Station was built in 1918 and currently houses a rice-flour bakery. – Photo Courtesy of Hojo Railway
If you take the train all the way from Ono to Kasai, there are rental bikes to peddle around to some of the local sites (see map). Attractions in Kasai include a charming old street with some well-preserved historical homes and businesses, Maruyama Total Park offers a hilltop vantage of the city and there is the Tamaoka Historical Park where visitors can explore ancient burial mounds. Folding bikes are also allowed on the train so you can ride to explore sites along the railway and then hop aboard when you want to return.
Every new place you
go to in Japan seems to present a different set of rules for分別bunbetsu, (classification or separation of
trash) and the process can seem confusing. In some serviced apartments, shared
living spaces and housing developments, the residents need to do very little
sorting, as facility management handles the dirty work. But if you move out to
a house or flat on your own, the rules can seem daunting.
Some individual
apartment building, housing complex or whole neighborhood may share a long
series of labeled trash bins with strict rules for separation of waste and
various classifications of recyclables. More rural neighborhoods tend to have
scheduled curbside pickups but the angst around separation is no less critical.
Each complex or neighborhood will have its own system and when you register
your address, you will get information about the local rules.
Trash sorting in Japan image courtesy Penn State University Center for Global Studies
The four basic
categories are burnable, non-burnable, recyclables and plastics. There is a
certain gray area for some items, so study the rules closely to be free of “separation
anxiety.” In most places, you have to
wash and dry the recyclables and divide the PET bottles, beverage cans, glass
bottles and recyclable paper and cardboard. There is a fifth category of trash
known as “oversized” garbage but that also includes items like old electronics
and electrical devices that require special handling and each city has a system
to schedule pickups. There is a fee that must be paid per item with tax stamps
that can be purchased at the post office and in some cases are available at
local convenience stores.
If you have curbside
pickups, each of these may be collected on a different schedule, so you may
find yourself bringing something out every morning of the week. Many towns will
require specific bags which will be available in supermarkets, convenience
stores and 100 yen shops. There might even be different color bags for
different types of trash and a voucher system to limit the number of bags used
per person each year.
If you don’t
properly handle your trash, sanitation workers might tag the bag with a refusal
sticker and leave it behind, which will publicly shame the offender. Further
violations may lead to fines. Also keep the workers safe. If you are discarding
broken glass or sharp objects, wrap the sharp edges and mark the bag as キケンkiken (hazardous.) Remember to
make your life and the lives of the sanitation workers easier by assuring that
you sort properly and use the correct bags.
Fantastic plastic
Despite all the
efforts to effectively and efficiently handle recycling, Japan has a huge problem with consumption, most
notably with plastics. Japan’s annual production of single-use plastics topped 9.4
million tones. It is seeking to reduce that 25 percent by 2030 as part of a
commitment to the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle.)
Japan has a high
standard of customer service and a high standard of living. In the modern
world, that has lead to a love affair with convenience and consumerism resulting
in a deluge of single-use plastic. Every consumer item seems to be heavily
overpackaged, in big boxes and plastic cases, or wrapped in plastic sheeting. Also,
there are so many plastic items that were designed to be discarded like straws
and utensils. Shopping for groceries will inevitably lead to aisles of single
pieces of fruit or vegetable showcased on a Styrofoam tray wrapped heavily in a
cocoon of plastic. It seems like there is no end in sight, but a new policy may
give Japanese people cause to examine their plastic habit.
Major chains like Aeon and Ito-Yokado were forward thinking and have already adopted the practice of charging for plastic bags. Starting in July 2020, this will be mandated across the nation. The initiative to reduce plastic waste involves banning free plastic bags and encouraging reusable bags. Japan currently discards about 30 billion bags a year, yet that accounts for only about 2 percent of the annual plastic waste.“The proportion of plastic bags among plastic waste is not big, but charging would be symbolic,” said Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada in a June 2019 press briefing.
Global concerns
Countries around the
world are grappling with the ever-increasing concern of handling garbage but in
few places is it as critical as the mountainous islands that make up Japan. The
country’s 1,661 landfills have remaining
capacity of 100 million cubic meters. At the current rate of
consumption, the nation’s dumps will be filled to capacity by 2040, according
to the Ministry of the Environment.
Much
of the waste produced in Japan is incinerated, which does keep it out of the
landfills but contributes to air pollution and global warming. Trash generation
has decreased from a peak of nearly 1200 g of daily waste per capita in the
late 1990s to a current rate of about 950 g according to EU-Japan
Centre for Industrial Cooperation. Clearly, however, other measures are needed to address
this growing concern.
Yao, Osaka’s $730 million Maishima incineration and waste management facility designed by Austria’s Friedensreich Hundertwasser looks like a theme park but processes 900 tonnes of waste daily. Image courtesy Osaka-Info
Osaka hosted the
2019 G20 Summit, an annual meeting of finance ministers and central bank
governors, where there was special emphasis placed on implementation of the 3R policy
in Asia. Though Japan has a well-defined recycling framework, it only recycles
about 20 percent of its municipal waste while Germany leads the world at 65
percent and S. Korea at 59 percent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Japan’s
industries produce nearly 10 times the amount of waste annually compared to
households. With stringent standards on industrial recycling and waste
management, recycling rates approach 50 percent but industrial waste remains a
significant problem.
Japan refused to
sign a 2018 G7 ocean plastics charter, despite 60,000 tonnes of the over 8 million tonnes of plastics entering the ocean
annually originating from Japan. Introducing an agreement to reduce marine
plastic became a focus for Japan at the 2019 summit.
Getting Burned
While
Japan has made the claim of recycling over 85 percent of its plastic waste, up
to 20 percent is exported and a vast portion of the remainder undergoes
so-called “thermal recycling,” in other words it is incinerated for the heating
value.Though it produces thermal energy from waste, most countries would not
consider that as recycling. The “clean incineration” process does remove many
of the toxins from the exhaust but still produces CO2 and other pollutants.
Japan
does rate highly in other areas of recycling. The metal recycling rate
approaches 98% and beverage cans have a recycling ratio of 87.4 percent.
Furthermore Japan recycled 498,000 tonnes of PET bottles for a recycling
rate of 84.8 percent. The majority of electronic appliances and electrical
products are recycled with up to 89 percent of the materials recovered.
A mountain of PET bottles awaits recycling Image Courtesy Asahi Shimbun
So
why is the overall recycling rate for municipal trash among the lowest in the
OECD countries? Foods and consumer goods are heavily over-packaged and
consumption remains high. The ubiquitous presence of convenience stores might
be seen as a sign of the Japanese addiction to consumerism.
Another answer to the waste equation is food waste which is
incinerated. About 20 percent of the overall waste produced in the country is household
food waste, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. This
accounts for a staggering 6.5 million tonnes annually. Combined with the huge amount
of food that expires on retailers’ shelves or in wholesalers’ warehouses
without ever reaching the consumer, it is clear that there is a huge disconnect
with the need to reduce waste. It is also of critical importance because Japan
is only 40 percent self-reliant in terms of food production.
Trash and Carry
Since Japan does not
have public trash bins, the need for reducing consumption becomes abundantly
clear when traveling. Tourists or even anyone just roving about town meet with
the challenge of the trash they create. Since you must pack it with you until
you get home, you have time to consider reducing your trash footprint. The
Covid 19 emergency has intensified this inconvenience. Most supermarkets and
convenience stores previously offered recycling and waste bins for customers
but many have suspended this service to reduce virus transmission. Drink
bottles and cans may still be dropped in bins alongside most vending machines
but other trash should not be deposited there.
One
thing is clear, for Japan to successfully face the future, we will all have to
examine ways in which we can change our lifestyles and our buying habits.
While tourists seek
out the hustle and bustle of Namba markets, the historic sites at Osaka Castle
or day trips braving the crowds to see the deer in Nara, they overlook the
natural and cultural wonders that exist in-between. From anywhere in Osaka, you
can look eastward and see an inviting ridgeline centered on the 642-meter-tall
Mount Ikoma which divides Nara and Osaka.
Mount Ikoma, Osaka
It is worthy simply as a nice day hike with the family or friends but it has added treasures. On top of Mount Ikoma, the summit holds the Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park that was built in 1929. The park rides are really only for young kids, but since the park entry is free, it is a great place to stroll about and the park has had a recent face lift that did not destroy its historic charm. There is also a cat and dog petting zoo that claims to house various furry friends from around the world. Hours are seasonal so it is best to call ahead.
Kintetsu Ikoma Cable Car 1918
If climbing up those 600 meters does not sound fun, there is another bonus. Just a short walk from the Ikoma Station of the Chou-line metro and Kintetsu railway is a cable car to the summit and amusement park. The Kintetsu Ikoma Cable Car, opened in 1928, is the oldest commercial cable car line in Japan running from Toriimae station up the mountain to Ikoma Sanjo. Some of the cars retain a classic look while some have been tailored to look like a dog or cat for the younger park guests. Kids will often ask the conductor to make the animals “talk” so as the dog and cat cable cars cross each other the cat calls out “nyao nyao” and the dog responds “won won.” After passing through the Ikoma hillside community and up to Hosan-ji, you must transfer to reach the top.
View of Nara with a dog-shaped Kintetsu Ikoma Cable Car
Long before the temple was built, Mt
Ikoma was already venerated by the local people. It became a training site for
Buddhist monks as early as 665. The temple, dating back to the Edo Period, is
dedicated to Kangiten. This god is usually depicted as an elephant figure
similar to the Hindu Ganesha, and is known for wisdom, joy and prosperity which
made Kangiten popular amongst merchants and entertainers.
Small pilgrimages from Osaka or Nara brought worshipers here,
so there developed a hillside village and a variety of shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and
guesthouses along the slopes that have been serving religious pilgrims and
visitors ever since. However, unlike some crowded tourist sites, the shops are
low key and there are no tour buses discharging throngs of temple visitors. On
most days you will only meet a few other climbers, many taking a rest over a
cup of coffee or a meal.
Climbing through the community, the lanes are very narrow and
steep and even become a staircase in places. There are some traditional
buildings maintaining echoes of historical architecture and the view of the
Osaka cityscape is impressive. Soon you rise above the last outpost of
civilization alongside the Hozanji station of the cable car line.
Ascending to the temple, there is a
broad stairway but there are also winding forest paths which lead to the temple
grounds. There are some unique features here. While the dark
wooden framed structures with white stucco walls and grey ceramic kawara-tiled
roofs are of typical Japanese temple construction, the altar and prayer
halls are constructed from brown wooden walls with bark roofs which are
indicative of Shinto shrines. A seated Buddha commands an alcove in the cliff
behind the main hall. There is an outlook over the valley as well.
Hozanji Shrine on Mount Ikoma
A trail rising up behind the main hall
leads through the peaceful forests on its winding way up to the summit. It is a
steep climb through thick groves of bamboo or tall cedars with the silence only
broken by bird calls and the cheerful murmurs of mountain springs tumbling down
the slopes.
Jizo statues on Mount Ikoma
If you ascend the trail you will pass
many smaller shrines and there are many statues of Jizo and other Buddhist
figures. Jizo are usually stone-carved statues of a bodhisattva that is a
spirit protecting known for travelers so they are often located at pilgrimage
destinations and boundaries, both physical and spiritual. These figures are
also often depicted with children or even holding an infant because they are
seen as protectors of children, especially the spirits of those children who
passed away young. You will see hats, gloves or bibs on many of the Jizo. Women
make these clothes, often carefully knitted, as religious devotion however
several of the Jizo here are wearing a sweater or hat, from a departed child,
placed with care by grieving parents. There are offerings not only of fruits
but also of children’s’ beloved toys.
On September 23 each year, the hillside
and village is filled with worshipers, revelers and vendors celebrating the
Ikoma Shoten Equinox Lantern Ceremony. A vast array of lanterns and candles
adorn the mountain steps and paths lighting the autumn night in celebration.
