It is mid-autumn and the best sort of season for a stroll in the Tokyo metropolitan area. I visited Nagareyama City in Chiba Prefecture with my family at the weekend.
Nagareyama is an old city in the western part of the prefecture. The famous Edo River meanders through the western border of the city. Edo River, also known as Edo Drainage Channel, is an artificial river to drain water from the large Tone River to Tokyo Bay. Construction was started in 1594 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became the first tycoon in the Tokugawa Shogunate later. It was a difficult task and took 60 years to complete. Today, the bank of the Edo River has an excellent green way.
To visit this spacey place near a high-density urban area, the Tsukuba Express (TX) Line is convenient. TX is a new commuter route, which opened in 2005. Connecting Akihabara in downtown Tokyo and Tsukuba, which is a science city in Ibaraki Prefecture, the total operating length is 58.3 km. The track is double and its gauge size is 1,067 mm. The electric system is 1,500 V DC overhead between Akihabara and Moriya, while 20,000 V AC between Moriya and Tsukuba. The maximum operating speed of the trains is 130 km per hour.
It takes only 20 minutes from Akihabara to Minami-Nagareyama, which is the nearest station to the bank of the Edo River. The silver shining stylish trains, namely TX-1000 and TX-2000 series, are operated every five minutes on average during the daytime.
Nagareyama is an old city in the western part of the prefecture. The famous Edo River meanders through the western border of the city. Edo River, also known as Edo Drainage Channel, is an artificial river to drain water from the large Tone River to Tokyo Bay. Construction was started in 1594 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became the first tycoon in the Tokugawa Shogunate later. It was a difficult task and took 60 years to complete. Today, the bank of the Edo River has an excellent green way.
To visit this spacey place near a high-density urban area, the Tsukuba Express (TX) Line is convenient. TX is a new commuter route, which opened in 2005. Connecting Akihabara in downtown Tokyo and Tsukuba, which is a science city in Ibaraki Prefecture, the total operating length is 58.3 km. The track is double and its gauge size is 1,067 mm. The electric system is 1,500 V DC overhead between Akihabara and Moriya, while 20,000 V AC between Moriya and Tsukuba. The maximum operating speed of the trains is 130 km per hour.
It takes only 20 minutes from Akihabara to Minami-Nagareyama, which is the nearest station to the bank of the Edo River. The silver shining stylish trains, namely TX-1000 and TX-2000 series, are operated every five minutes on average during the daytime.
