Bustling city to quiet town – Journey from Tokyo to Odawara.
Hardly an automotive trip it has been up until around now, where our plans are to temporarily shift over to Odawara to eventually go up to Hakone.
Taking the high-speed rail from Tokyo to Odawara via the Hikari Shinkansen. The journey was roughly 30-60 minutes with a few stops in-between. You could bring your own food with on-board disposal where needed. Just don’t leave any trash around!
The station in Odawara has a pretty backdrop of residential houses, a plus for the photos you can take of the several Shinkansen that will skip the station.
For the automotive side, the escalator handrails are currently showing characters from the MF Ghost series, the successor series to Initial D – one that I would guess you would know about if you’re reading an automotive website like ours.
Its a nice introduction for me, who is getting ready to access Hakone on the following day – one that you’ll read about my excitement soon…
The station around Odawara station and incidentally our Airbnb is quiet and chill (partly that its still cold), with a small shopping mall and adjacent shophouses around it with food and clothing stores.
Parked very close to your temporary place of residence happen to be some enthusiasts. I won’t know who they are, but I certainly know that their cars are good looking! Both are kei cars, and one intrigued me so much that I had to write a separate column for it.
A fellow writer suggested we explore the local area before sundown – good idea. With some walking and scoping the place, we ended up at Odawara Castle. Its a… castle, not sure what else I can tell you. Its mostly a large and walkable place to look at the structures within and also the abundance of animals.
The entrance we used was a bridge connecting the pathway and separating both is a river with koi fish probably looking for food and ducks swimming around.
What astounded me is a new species definitely not plentiful in my years of being stuck in cities; barons.
Given Odawara has an abundant seaside and much freshwater to go around, looking at the trees will allow you to see a great number of these larger birds.
We stayed for a bit to appreciate the openness, sakura trees that have yet to blossom and the general area, before disembarking the place to reach the beach before sundown.
If you check on maps, Odawara Castle is not that far from the beach, and young as we are, realized that not only could we run to get there faster, it was cold to the point none of us would uncomfortably sweat even if we exerted ourselves.
I often don’t run, and it is cliché but running through the town to get to the beach… that felt just like youth.
Ran and ran and ran… and we reached before sundown. How we enter the beach was probably one of the best rewards there could be; blocked by a bridge in front and climbing down a flight of stairs.
Its a very pretty view, made better with the sunset.
Its supposed to be automotive-related, I know, but let me quickly gather my feelings here. I’d love this place more as a place to reminisce with family, same as I did with my group of friends here.
I do wish I savored the moment more (since we didn’t come back), we walked back eventually, leaving this beach to hopefully see it someday again.
The last piece of the day seems to be yet another kei car. A handsome little Subaru Vivio RX-R! I couldn’t help but get a few photos of this little beast, and one that you’ll see a little bit more of in an adjacent article. Stay tuned! And stay tuned for the rest of the trip, where I hope to keep it informative enough than emotional.
~Efini
Read more: Tourist in Japan: Ikebukuro, Short Shinjuku revisit
