Final ride on a soon-to-be defunct train

Final ride on a soon-to-be defunct train

good afternoon I’m still Jeremy and I’m here in Sakai City just south of Osaka City and I’m at a station called naku station today I’m going to ride uh one of the final rides of a train line that the train company is actually disappearing in a few days it’s called the soku kosoku line it goes from here naku to five more stations the last station being iumi chuo and then it stops it doesn’t connect to any other train line there so it’s kind of this weird Spur Line but it is going away in way so I’m just going to ride the train it comes quite often to each of the stations every 10 or 15 minutes so I don’t really have a schedule to stick with I’m just going to ride see as many uh of the stations as I can of the five stations besides uh this one naku walk around the areas and stuff see what I can see and then I want to be at the final station isumi chuo by 4:00 today 400 p.m. because this very weird train which I can’t understand why it exists leaves from that station back up to Osaka and I want to ride that so here we are final look at the soku line before it stops being the soku line the private soku kosoku line the only train line situated almost entirely in the city of Sakai has been absorbed by the larger nangai train company after 54 years of Independence today I’m taking a last look at the soku line while it’s still called that it’s the end of an era for this busy Suburban service and my goal is to find out where exactly the trains go and what the areas around the stations are like and I will be doing the checklist today and I’m in a generous and expansive mood so anything counts anywhere I see it whether or not I’m on the train and here’s some graffiti first thing so mark that off the list the naku station was first made in 1917 and it’s right now shared by three different train lines there’s the Osaka Metro the subway which I rode here and the main train line is the nankai line and nankai is a bigger train company around Osaka in the south of Osaka goes out to mount Coya and all that amazingness it goes to the airport so if you’ve ever ridden a train between Osaka and the oaka airport the Kanai airport you may have been on a n Kai train and the other one is the soku line and the soku line has only been running since 1971 so as of this video 54 years old but before we leave naku and get on the train I’m going to stop off for a quick lunch at doour coffee shop and then I want to tell you a little bit about this area and why the name naku is so bizarre new menu item steak sandwich in uh red wine sauce pretty Swanky for a cheap little chain Cafe and a coffee all right belly a little bit full not the biggest lunch in the world but you know it’s all right so about the station name and this area is named naku it’s very unusual even for Japanese people so there’s four kanji the meaning of the the kanji is middle or within 100 tongue and bird but that’s not the weird part the first kanji is Naka and it’s very very very common you see it everywhere Naka so that means the final three kanji are mosu which is only two syllables moou but each kanji really needs to have at least one syllable so the whole three kanji together is just mou it’s very unusual and it’s actually a known word in Japan it’s a type of bird a mzu but to read the station name just from the kanji you have to kind of be aware of not super common word mosu so to get around this or to deal with it the three different train companies deal with it in three different ways the Osaka Subway the Metro they just write it out in the phonetical hiragana so you can easily see that Naka moou the nangai line uses the kanji and just hopes you can understand it naku and the soku line uses Naka the kanji and then the hiragana for mzu so none of them really great but three different ways to figure out the name of nakam moza so in just a few days from now the soku line will be absorbed into nanai It’s Already Done they’ve already bought it and everything and it’s going to become it’s going to stop being called the sok line it will just be part of the nanai network uh so I don’t even know where here the soku line is I guess it’s inside the nangai station they’ve always had a kind of a real close relationship and trains will kind of share the tracks and go between them and stuff so I’m going to go inside the nankai station and see if the sok line is indeed in there all right mine’s at uh 420 I didn’t wear my watch today 4:28 which is 4 minutes from now there are four such a short line there are four classifications of trains on it there’s like a a local which stops at every station only on this line the one I’m getting on is the same exact thing local but it kind of goes along the nankai line up to Osaka or something and then two others including the weird one I’m going to take at the end of the day I hope so I need platform two that’s Platform One okay here is two a lot of people out today because it’s a holiday it’s a Thursday but today is a national holiday because it’s the first day of spring and right on Q uh it is warmer than it has been even warmer than it was an hour ago so no coat my first train pulled into naku right on time and I noticed that the word soku on the side had already been replaced with mangai [Music] okay here we are the train actually says nankai on the outside not soku I don’t know if there are any more soku trains I kind of hope to see one today but um I’m going to get off at the very next station which is called fukai because I feel kind of sorry for it I don’t probably not going to have time to get off at every cycle station today I don’t think see how it goes but I’m definitely getting off for the next one because it needs all the help it can get [Music] [Laughter] [Music] I for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right so here’s the deal with this line so I got on at naku this is the entire soku L naku fukai iumi GAA toga mikita K and iumi chuo and here are the four types of trains for train classifications they all stop at every single station except fukai the limited Express does not stop here doesn’t even stop at naku either but naku got plenty of attention what I’m worried about is fukai this is the only train line here in fukai the Soka line and not all the trains stop here I feel bad for it let’s go see fukai a little bit well first things first a police motor scooter or a scooter parked out in front of the police office and never difficult to spot a hair salon the soku hair salon so fukai means deep well and the story is that in the 600s and 700s there was this monk called gyi and gyi was known to uh he’s like a Buddhist monk but he was known to Buck the authorities if he wanted to go against the rules in the service of of people to help the poor and help people who need housing and food and stuff so he is kind of a good guy and apparently the story is that he dug a well here a deep well to give people clean water and so the place is called food guy I’d like to get a carbonated water for the day but if you can read that it’s 130 in here which is a bit pricey maybe that’s just what they cost these days but I would like to find one that’s closer to 110 maybe it’s one of those things you just can’t really explain the $10 members Lounge I will remind you that we don’t use dollars in Japan looks cool though the $10 bar [Music] this place will buy your old Rolex even if it has no band and if it doesn’t even work it’s really old they’ll buy it well I may not have brought us to the most exciting place in fukai I would imagine that most of the day is going to be kind of like this just because I think the main point of the soku line is to take people back to the um kind of suburbs and stuff there’s a lot of people none of the stations on today’s line are used too infrequently they’re all really really popular so I don’t quite know why the line is losing money I know Co made it take a big hit I guess more people are working from home so they’re not commuting so they’re not riding the train so Riders ship did go down suddenly in 2020 but not down to nothing I think it’s still a viable company most stations still get 15 to 25,000 Riders a day you know the nankai company still thinks it’s worth uh keeping up I think this Monument probably represents the well that uh the Buddhist monk gilep dug all those years ago cool Monument well this Monument is covered in Japanese kanji and I can’t read it one side seems to be a bunch of names and one side is stuff I ought to be able to read but I can’t so um I’m going to go back into the station and find the next train to the next station that I get off that [Music] well just missed my train by 1 minute but the next one’s in 9 minutes from now so I’ve got time to sit here on the platform and enjoy My3 30 in water that I did buy and a little snack to go with that tiny lunch here’s the Train sign here on the platform by the way for fukai it is sb2 meaning soku O2 so when nankai takes over next week it will not be SB anything it’ll be whatever nank Kai’s numbering system is by the way I don’t really make this clear when the nankai company takes over uh next week nothing really changes it’s a same line it’s the same stations it’s the same times of each train it’s just that they won’t be called soku anymore and it’ll be one more little private train company disappearing and another bigger train company getting bigger so no real practical change for the people who use the line but still kind of shed a tear pour one out for soku line I think my train is coming right here this one has a bunch of art on it something related to golf but also the fact that uh n Kai’s taken over the soku line [Music] thank you at it [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay we just stopped at isuma Oka station but I didn’t get off I wanted to but I really got to get to uh the end of this line the final station so I can catch this super special train back which I’m way overhyping so don’t expect like the second coming of uh some train God or something but it’s it’s it’s a big deal maybe only to me but it’s just a totally bizarre thing that exists on this line so I’m looking forward to that but it only leaves very seldom so 4:02 p.m. is when I have to be there at that station to leave and I really want to stop at a stop called K on this line because there’s something really cool there so I’m having to uh adjust my time and my desires as always been traveling and wandering at the last minute I jumped off the train at the next station toga mikita but it probably shouldn’t have it ate up precious time but curiosity got the best of me see my wanderings at toga mikita in the extended version of this video at patreon.com t1d Wanderer [Music] [Music] okay this is comeo e station do you know what comeo means I don’t really something about uh bright light uh but e is a very common word and it means Pond and near here there is comeo Pond this is named after the pond so I have seen this pond on Google Maps when I was researching this train line and uh it just looked really big and really cool and uh I think I’ll have time to go investigate it and see what’s around there cuz it looks like a really pretty place to be be um I’m not exactly sure where it is I only vaguely know that it’s [Applause] sish okay you are here North is that way that’s really not helpful um is that it that’s not it oh here it is the big one okay this big one so I have to go out just there somewhere wow cart without an oach on that’s some bad luck right there one thing I forgot to research is how long does it take to walk there a I thought that was even better graffiti but it’s a sticker boo so just say you no it’s 3 if you can see that 328 which means I really God I really don’t have time for this cuz I think I want to catch a 354 train at the latest I will also admit to you that I kind of goofed around all morning because I thought well I don’t want to get out there too early cuz I won’t have anything to do along that train line and as has happened with every single video I’ve ever done on this channel I didn’t think there would be much there to do and there was way more than I thought there’s always more to see than I thought I just checked the map I don’t have time I’m not even halfway there and uh I just don’t have time so um just imagine that there was a really great pond in this I know see the the viewers are upset already screaming at me already um so imagine there was a great pond in this uh video and actually there kind of was in the beginning there were some water some good ponds you know so that’s the pond um so but I should turn this into a positive now that means I get to wander around this area which looks kind of cool to me cuz it looks like it’s in uh disrepair and overgrown and that is what I absolutely love cuz it’s so interesting looking so let’s go on this walkway which I’ve not seen anybody else using today and we’ll wander around over here well you would think with a in a place like a suburbs like this with so many people that someone could turn this into something kind of dead now I don’t know why I’ve heard of comeo it’s just a name I’ve seen around I think maybe maybe I used to work for a company that had an office here or something but it uh has not been as nice as the other places I’ve been the other places seem like more upscale comeo e was uh added to the line in 1977 and for the longest time this was the end so the train line went from naku just to here it was only in 1995 which to me seems pretty recent but I guess now that I think about it was 30 years ago uh then they added the final one iumi chuo and I don’t know what isumo is like yet but this one here come this area feels like the end of a train line that doesn’t connect anywhere and again I mean that in a good way feels like real life here he hey hey even better the best graffiti of the day so far [Applause] [Music] all right there you go whole bot on with the cart I mean that’s almost cut into circles but no doesn’t count hey how about these how about these trees cut into circles yeah let’s count it I went to the final station isomi chuo and rushed around trying to buy a last minute ticket on the exclusive soku liner back to Namba station in Osaka see my experience aboard this most unusual limited express service in the extended version of this video at patreon.com t1d Wanderer station number nk1 our final stop [Music] well I quite enjoyed the soku line my last look at the soku line um pity that it’s going away but I’m glad it will still will exist here’s the list today abandoned bicycle interesting statue or figurine motor scooter obachan with cart notable Bird cartoon drawing on a sign graffiti hair salon tree cut into circles car elevator beer vending machine so if you ever make it here to Osaka and if you ride this train it will no longer be the soku line it will be the nangai lon so say goodbye to the S excuse me okay so uh thanks for watching and I will see you next time watch today’s full video plus more exclusive travel logs video diaries and other stuff as a paid or free supporter at patreon.com t1d Wanderer thanks to everyone helping me keep this channel alive special thanks this week in random order to Samantha Calvin Ferrera darcio Tonto Ray Nichols Will Phillips lever Wong David Richley Michael Fedor Matt Kane and Russell Davis thanks for wandering through Osaka with me everywhere is worth exploring

A look at the stations along the Semboku-Kosoku Line in Sakai, Japan, days before it was absorbed into the Nankai train network.

▶︎ *Extended 41-minute version* → https://www.patreon.com/posts/125822898
Watch the full-length video, ad-free. Includes my wander around Toga-Mikita station, a kanji lesson about “Semboku” (泉北), my problems buying a limited express ticket, my chat with an ambivalent Semboku employee, and my elite ride on the Semboku Liner all the way back to Osaka.

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*About T1D Wanderer*
My name is Jeremy. I make videos about traveling and discovering obscure places. Everywhere is worth exploring when you wander the world out of curiosity. If you enjoy the work I put into my videos, please consider joining my travel community and signing up for my free weekly newsletter at https://patreon.com/t1dwanderer

Music by mellowstu / Pond5