It's already late September, but the lingering summer heat is still intense in Tokyo. I evacuated from the urban heat island, and headed to a cool highland in Nagano Prefecture with my family. Our destination was a vegetable juice factory, which is located about 1,000 meters above sea level. We joined a guided factory tour, and viewed vast vegetable farms. It was very interesting to observe the almost fully-automated manufacturing process of vegetable juice. After enjoying the tour, we had a delicious lunch at a restaurant, and bought a bunch of vegetables and juices at a shop attached to the factory.
To get to this highland factory, the nearest station is Fujimi on the JR East Chuo line. Our vehicle was a local train, the EMU 211 series. This model was developed by Japanese National Railways in 1985. It has a bit of an outdated field excitation electric control system, but we must not forget that the 211 series has realized a large amount of operating cost reduction using its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. The 211 series took over the elder 115 series on the Chuo line in 2015, because the 115 series had deteriorated. A total of 50 sets, 192 units, have been moved from the Utsunomiya, Takasaki, and Tokaido lines. The 211 series has a stainless-steel body with light blue and emerald-colored stripes, which is called the Nagano-color among railfans. Long time no see, the 211 series!
I enjoyed both the highland factory and the local trains in Nagano Prefecture.
