Tuesday 4 September 2012

Seaside Line, Access to the Urban Resort in Yokohama


EMU Yokohama New Transit 1000 series arrives at Nojima-koen Station

If you are a Tokyoite, and want to visit a marine resort to spend a day relaxing, where would you wish to go? Probably, a tropical coral beach in Okinawa Prefecture is the best destination for you... but, if you have no time and/or money, where can you go? My answer is Yokohama City.

As I mentioned before, Yokohama is located some 20km southwest of Tokyo. Although, it is a densely populated, giant city, it also has a beautiful coastal area on Tokyo Bay.

The area I would like to recommend is the Kanazawa area on the Seaside Line of Yokohama New Transit. Kanazawa Seaside Line is a rubber-tired automated guideway transit (AGT) system with ATO (Automatic Train Operation). The line length is 10.6km between Shin-Sugita on the JR East Negishi Line and Kanazawa-Hakkei on the Keikyu Main Line. The EMU 1000 and 2000 series are their train fleet. One train is composed of 5 cars; and a total of 16 sets are in operation.

One of the famous resorts on this line is Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, which is an amusement park consisting of an aquarium, shopping mall, hotel and marina. Fireworks add a sort of poetic charm to this summer season. Nojima Park is also a famous spot. Beautiful sandy beaches still remain in this urban area; and visitors can enjoy walking, camping, having a BBQ and so on. Kanazawa Seaside Line is one of the best ways to access the urban marine resort from the Tokyo metropolitan area. 

EMU Yokohama New Transit 2000 series arrives at Namiki-chuo Station

More information about Seaside Line: http://www.seasideline.co.jp/lang/en/