It was a beautiful autumn weekend. I visited a garden, named Clematis Hill, near Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, some 120 km west of Tokyo. It was off-season, as the Clematis blooming season was over, but I could enjoy the profound silence backed by the songs of the birds in the garden.
One of the features of this garden is its open-air sculptures. They were works of an Italian artist, Giuliano Vangi. "Donna rigate a acqua (Woman who wears water)" was my favorite work. As its name suggests, the clothes of the woman are at one with water in its surrounding pond. The lotus flowers and the reflection of the blue sky on the water were also very beautiful.
To visit this unique garden, please take the Tokaido Main Line (JR Central's operating section) and get off at Mishima Station. You can see the EMU 211 series there. As you may know, this model has already disappeared from JR East's operating section (Tokyo - Atami) on the Tokaido Main Line, as it was replaced by the new model, EMU E233-3000 series in 2012.
The EMU 211 series was developed by Japanese National Railways in 1985. It has an outdated field excitation electric control system, but we must not forget that the 211 series has realized a large amount of operating cost reduction using its regenerative braking system. Please ride it and enjoy the whirring sound of the DC motor.
Art and railways... It was a gorgeous weekend for me.
