If you freely take a train, the scope of the travel will be wider. I usually drive my car and less chance to take a train. So, I took trains by myself and wrote my experience in Kiso district, especially in Okuwa village, in this blog.
Note my experience was in July 2023. As time goes by, some information might be out of date.
Three stations in Okuwa village
Okuwa village has three Japan Railway (JR) Tokai train stations; Nojiri, Okuwa and Suhara stations. At each station, only local trains stop, not any express train. Each local train runs between Nakatsugawa station and Matsumoto station, at which you can take a connection to far destination like Nagoya or Shinjyuku, Tokyo.
Station platform
Nojiri and Okuwa stations have two platforms per direction. Suhara station has a single platform with two sides, where each side is for each direction. So, when you take a train at Nojiri or Okuwa station, you need to check carefully the right platform for your destination.
The platform number of the train is found on the timetable in the waiting room of the station.
Train types
As the timetable shows, there are two types of local trains in service in Kiso District, a normal train and a one-man train. The normal trail has both a conductor and a train operator. The one-man train has no conductor but a train operator only. To identify the type of train you take, there are some ways as below.
1 ) Check the train timetable in the waiting room of the station. The normal train has 普通 under the time on the time table. The one-man train has ワンマン at the same place and the time has a box frame around it.
2 ) Count the number of cars of the train. If the train has three or more, it is the normal train. If the train has just two cars, it is the one-man train.
3 ) Check the color of line on the train. Blue indicates the train is a normal one. Orange is one-man one.
4 ) Check the train sign board. A normal train shows just the destination only while a one-man train has ワンマン in light green on the board.
The station has a ticketing window but it opens for 6 hours from 6:30 to 12:30 only. When it opens, you can buy a ticket to the destination. Note the ticketing window accepts cash only, a credit card is not accepted.
When it closes, you buy a ticket on the train or pay fare on the train. The way you follow depends on the type of train you take.
Take a normal train
If you take a normal train, follow the instruction below:
1 ) Go to the platform where your train arrives. The platform number of the train is on the timetable as described above.
2 ) When the train comes, push a door button to open the door while the lump is lit. Note the door doesn’t open automatically.
3 ) After you get on the train, move to the last car, where a train conductor is in an operator room.
4 ) Declare your destination to the conductor and buy a ticket there. Only cash is accepted, no credit card is available.
Note if you don’t buy a ticket in the train and get off the train without a ticket, you have no way to settle the fare if the station you get off has no fare adjustment window. Even if the station you get off has a ticket window opened instead, the ticket windows cannot settle the fare but only issue a new ticket from the station to a destination. That is the scope of the train service provided by JR as of the date of exploring. Once you go out of the scope, no way to settle the fare is provided even if you want to do so. I got this service scope from the statement of the train conductor I talked on the train.
Take one-man train
If you take a one-man train, follow the instruction below:
1 ) Go to the platform where your train arrives. Refer the above.
2 ) Find the door mark of boarding door on the platform at Suhara station and Okuwa station. At Nojiri station, find a board hung on a pole indicating the boarding door instead since the mark on the platform is too aged.
3 ) When the train comes, open the train door in front of the mark by pushing a door button. Note the door doesn’t open automatically.
Get on the train and take immediately a boarding certificate that is issued by a machine beside the door you enter. Without the certificate, you might be required the fair from the first station of the service, not from the station you get on.
Before getting off the train, check the fare board at the front most of the train and find the fare of the number printed on the boarding certificate and prepare the coins for exact the fare with no change. No bill is accepted but coins only.
Since my boarding certificate is 6, I prepare 150 yen as the fare board indicates that the sell 6 is 150.
If you don’t have the exact amount of coins for the fare, use a money exchanger before you get your destination. If you exchange a bill to coins, only 1,000 yen bill is accepted. Any other bills than 1,000 yen are rejected. It means you have to be well prepared before taking a train.
When the train arrives the destination, the window over the money exchanger opens and the train operator checks if the fair matches the number on the boarding certificate. Put the fare with the boarding certificate into the red square hole of the fare box. Note put the exact amount of fare into the machine. No change comes out.
If everything is fine, the train operator enables the door open button. When the button is enabled, the buttons are lit. Until then, you cannot open the door.
Push a door open button then get off the train. The door doesn’t open automatically.
Note when you arrive at a major station like Nakatsugawa station or Kisofukushima station, a train operator may open all doors without the door button operation by a passenger. If so, you get off the train without putting fare into the fare box and go to a fare adjusting window with the boarding certificate before a ticketing gate. In other words, when the train stops at the station that has a fare adjustment window, it is supposed your fare is settled at the window at the station, not by the fare box on the train.
Note a train IC card such as Suica is not available both at the station and the train in the Kiso District. Cash only. Be careful.
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