Bus VS Local Trains In Ibaraki And Tochigi Prefectures - Part 2

The two-day “bus team versus train team” race continues. The teams started from Kashima Soccer Stadium in Ibaraki Prefecture and crossed two checkpoints. Their goal is to reach an observation tower in Kinugawa, Tochigi Prefecture. Each team also has a taxi budget of 10,000 yen for the two days. At the end of day one, both teams spend the night at Motegi in Tochigi Prefecture.

On the second day, the teams must clear the third and final checkpoint of Nakagawa Aquatic Park before racing to the goal. The checkpoint is more than 35km away from their current location. The train team first plans to head to Nishi-Nasuno Station via Utsunomiya Station. The bus team takes a taxi to Motegi Station, transfers buses at Ichihana Station and rides the 7.15am bus to Karasuyama Station. On the bus, they find out about a community bus they can take from Karasuyama to Nakagawa.

In the meantime, the train team arrives at Utsunomiya Station and then travels on the Tohoku Main Line to Nishi-Nasuno Station. Nakagawa Aquatic Park is very far from here. The team has 7,500 yen left to spend on taxis, so they decide to use 2,500 yen on a taxi for a portion of the journey and then walk the rest of the way to the checkpoint. 

The bus team arrives at Karasuyama and then catches the 8.05am community bus to the Takada bus stop at Nakagawa. The bus reaches Takada at 8.45am and the team must wait until 9.55am to catch the bus to Nakagawa Aquatic Park. 

The train team takes a taxi from Nishi-Nasuno until the point the taxi fare reaches 2,500 yen, advancing for 5.5km. They then walk for 13km to the aquatic park. 

In the meantime, the bus team finally gets on the bus and leaves Takada. They make enquiries on the bus and are told that Tajuku is the closest bus stop to Nakagawa Aquatic Park. The team finally arrives at the third checkpoint at 10.15am. Nakagawa Aquatic Park, an aquarium, is built along the Naka River, one of Tochigi’s most famous clear streams. With 300 species of fish numbering 20,000 in total, it is the largest aquarium in Tochigi Prefecture. For their mission, each member from both teams must catch a sweetfish by hand and eat it after it is cooked. The bus team finishes the challenge and can advance to the goal, an observation tower in Kinugawa, which is 50km away.

The train team, meanwhile, arrives at the aquarium after walking for one and a half hours. They manage to catch three sweetfish within 10 minutes. After completing the mission, they decide to use their remaining taxi money to go back to Nishi-Nasuno Station. They aim to catch the 2pm train from there and head towards Kinugawa Onsen Station. 

The bus team plans to take the bus from Tajuku to Otawara City Hall and then proceed to Nozaki Station. However, they must wait for half an hour until the 12.30pm bus to Otawara. By this time, the opponent team has finished the challenge at the aquarium and can also head to the goal. Both teams are now in a neck-and-neck race to the finishing line. The bus team catches the bus to Nozaki at the same time that the train team takes a taxi to Nishi-Nasuno Station.

The bus team finds out that although there are buses going to Kinugawa from Yaita Station, there are none from Nozaki to Yaita. So from Nozaki Station, they will use the leftover taxi money to go to Yaita Station. The opponent team takes the taxi till they finish their taxi money and have to walk the remaining way to Nishi-Nasuno Station. They must walk 4.5km and reach the station in time to catch the train which leaves in an hour at 2pm. 

The bus team is right behind the train team, with their bus following the other team’s taxi on the same road. They later see the train team members walking and thus manage to recapture their lead. The bus team arrives at the Otawara City Hall bus stop at 1.05pm and has to wait until 3pm to catch the bus to Nozaki Station.  

The train team, meanwhile, manages to take the 2pm train from Nishi-Nasuno Station to Utsunomiya Station. Here, they transfer to the Nikko Line and hop on the 3.25pm train to Imaichi Station. They arrive at 4pm and walk for about 1km to Shimo-Imaichi Station, before taking the 4.15pm train to Kinugawa Onsen Station. 

The bus team advances to Nozaki Station after waiting for two hours at Otawara City Hall. At Nozaki, they take a taxi to Yaita Station at 3.45pm. Then, they travel by bus for nearly an hour to Shin-Takatoku Station, before transferring buses to get to Kinugawa Onsen Station. They alight at a bus stop which is a kilometre away from the observation tower, a symbol of Kinugawa, and run towards the goal. They find a treasure box at the observation tower and open it, hoping to find a flag which would signal that they have won the race. But alas, there is no flag in the box. This is because the train had reached the goal about 30 minutes ago and claimed the flag, making them the winner of this two-day “bus team versus train team” race. 

Tips:

1)    Nakagawa Aquatic Park is the largest aquarium in Tochigi Prefecture
2)    An observation tower ahead of a suspension bridge is a symbol of Kinugawa Onsen