Bus VS Local Trains From Hyogo Prefecture To Amanohashidate - Part 4

The bus and train teams continue racing towards the cable car spot which overlooks the beautiful Amanohashidate, while clearing missions at various checkpoints along the way. They have completed their task at the fourth checkpoint, Funaya Ukishima, and are now heading to the last checkpoint, Soba Ichi. 

The train team catches the 11.10am train back to Toyooka Station, while the opponent bus team plans to take the 11.30am bus to Kumihama Station.  

Once they arrive at Toyooka Station, the train team decides to take a taxi they had reserved earlier to Deai near the checkpoint. Each team is given 10,000 yen to spend on taxis during the race. This taxi ride costs the train team around 6,000 yen. They also find out that there is a difficult mountain pass leading to Yosano Station from the final checkpoint.  

During the bus ride to Kumihama Station, the bus team finds a bus stop called Jougahata on the map. So they plan to take a taxi from that bus stop to cross the prefectural border and look for a bus stop that will lead to Soba Ichi. They arrive at Kumihama Station at 11.50am and the bus to Jougahata is at 12.10pm. They reserve a taxi which will meet them at Jougahata. 

The train team, meantime, spends about 6,000 yen on their taxi ride. They finally reach the last checkpoint, Soba Ichi, an Izushi soba restaurant. The mission here is to eat 50 plates of soba, one plate at a time, and find three Ebisu drawings which are hidden among them.   

The bus team reaches the Jougahata bus stop and takes the taxi which was booked earlier. They start looking for a bus stop from where there are buses to Izushi. After checking out a few bus stops, they finally find one which has buses going to Izushi. There is a bus at 1.10pm, 10 minutes later. 

The train team is in the lead and is still doing the Ebisu mission at Soba Ichi. They finally find the three Ebisu plates after eating 22 plates of soba and have cleared the mission. They can now head to the goal of the race, the Amanohashidate cable car spot.

The bus team reaches Soba Ichi by this time and starts on the mission. They too must find three Ebisu plates hidden within the 50 plates of soba. 

The train team is making their way to Amanohashidate Station near the goal but they must first go to Yosano Station. It is now 2pm and the train team plans to take the 4.10pm train from Yosano. They must walk about 10km to the station.

The bus team, meanwhile, finds three Ebisu plates after eating 12 plates of soba and clears the mission. It is now 2.05pm and they want to head to a bus stop that is near Amanohashidate. The next bus to the Nakafuji bus stop is only at 3.40pm. 

In the meantime, the train team is walking towards Yosano Station. They want to catch a taxi before the mountain pass so call a few taxi companies before managing to get one which will pick them up from the Mongolia Folk Museum at around 3.30pm. The train team has nearly 4,000 yen left out of the 10,000-yen taxi budget. They manage to cross the mountain pass via taxi. They alight from the taxi and start walking to Yosano Station. 

The bus team, meanwhile, has arrived at the Nakafuji bus stop. They have nearly 2,800 yen left to spend on taxis so decide to use it up during this last stretch to the goal. They manage to take the taxi all the way to Yotsutsuji. They have missed the 4.10pm bus to Amanohashidate and must wait until 5.05pm for the next bus. 

The train team reaches Yosano Station just before the bus team takes the last bus to the goal. The train team catches the train and alights at Amanohashidate Station. Once they reach the station, they must run to the goal. 

The bus team takes 40 minutes to travel from Yotsutsuji to the Amanohashidate cable car spot. They see the treasure box, open it and are ecstatic to see the winner’s flag inside. So the bus team has won the “bus team versus train team” race this time. 

Tips:

1)    Soba lovers should visit the town of Izushi with its various soba shops
2)    Taxis are a convenient mode of transport to cross difficult mountain passes or prefecture borders