I visited Gyoda City in Saitama Prefecture for the first time in four years. So, what’s new in my favorite city?
First, let’s take a quick look at Gyoda itself. Located about 60 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, it’s known for its unique attractions. One of the most popular in recent years is the rice paddy art. Actual rice fields are used as giant canvases, where pictures are “painted” using different varieties of rice that produce various colors. The “artists” are local farmers and residents, who plant the rice in June. This year’s theme is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. You can see a huge image of Kamado Tanjiro in the fields (see the photo below).
Of course, I can’t stop there—this is a railway blog, after all. On my way home, I boarded a train at Gyoda Station on JR East’s Takasaki Line and did a bit of trainspotting at Omiya Station. Take a look at the top photo: it shows the EMU E231 series, which I’ve posted about many times before. If I were to add one detail, it would be about the space between the train’s front end and the driver’s cab door. That area is quite wide, and it serves as a crush zone to protect the driver in case of a collision. This crush zone is noticeably wider on the suburban-type of the E231 series (pictured above) than on the commuter-type, since the suburban version is designed for higher-speed operations. Topics like these never run out when train enthusiasts get together. I’m sure you feel the same, don’t you?
