I can’t believe it’s already late May—I feel as though I just celebrated the New Year not long ago. Well, no use making a fuss! Let’s stop and smell the roses. This year, I visited the Odawara Flower Garden in Kanagawa Prefecture. As soon as I stepped into the rose garden, a lovely breeze carried the sweet scent of roses through the air. I enjoyed seeing roses in shades of red, pink, white, and yellow in full bloom. It truly feels like the height of spring.
To reach this attractive tourist spot, the nearest railway station is Iidaoka on the Daiyuzan Line of the Izu-Hakone Railway. On my way back home, I spotted an unfamiliar pink-colored train—set 5506 of the EMU 5000 series. This set was originally painted blue, but its body color was recently changed to pink to support community revitalization along the Daiyuzan Line. It’s now called the “Harumeki Train.” As I mentioned in a previous post, Harumeki-zakura is an early-blooming cherry blossom variety developed by local people 25 years ago. Its pink blossoms have since become a symbol of the area.
Incidentally, the 5000 series forms the main fleet on the Daiyuzan Line. It was introduced in 1984 to replace aging stock, with a total of seven sets built by Tokyu Sharyo. Only the first set (5501) has a steel body, while the other six sets, including 5506, are stainless steel. Each set consists of three cars. My favorite is car number 2 of set 5506, because it is equipped with comfortable cross seats.
