52 Fujis #25 – Fujitana & #26 – Fujinoki

Don’t know what a 52 Fuji is? Check out this page.

Fujitana lies on the Ita line, a private line run by the Heisei Chikuho company. It consists of diesel trains with just one carriage apiece & very little sense of urgency at all chugging reliably through rural Fukuoka. The train I rode all the way back in 2007 was on its last legs, and what information I’ve gleaned from about the internet suggests that 2008 was the year of its retirement.

Fujitana station itself could have done with a lick of paint

Thankfully, acccording to google maps, those steps have had a lick of paint in the interim.

Fujitana didn’t really have much to distinguish itself: yet another of the 52 Fujis where I feel like I’ve walked in to someone else’s house and they might come home any second, to find me there, all apologetic but still in trouble.

Fujitana probably had the rustiest train station of them all at this point though.

So there’s that.

There’s also the elaborate trek to change platforms, which, in the case of Fujitana, meant going down the road, through a tunnel, and left a bit. So I did just that and popped off to Fujinoki.

Fujinoki started off with more interest – it was close to the sea, although I wasn’t sure there would be public access to the docks, I was hoping for some groovy looking boats at the least.

In the end it didn’t really matter, as Kyushu had just been faking me out with its lull in the rainy season.

I’d made it back to the station, though so that was good news.

Except for the fact that Fujinoki had another creative platform placement puzzle. This time it was – head to the end of the platform, make your way across a little level crossing, and then walk the same distance back on the other side. So I didn’t really miss as much of the rain as would have been ideal.