【ひとり旅】兵庫県の真ん中には何がある？1泊2日で旅行してみたらローカル鉄道が奇跡の復活を遂げていた！

*I brought and wore a helmet. Correction (16:17) → It should be "Kasai City". #SoloTravel #Train #Railway I traveled from Osaka Umeda, taking three private railway lines: Hankyu Railway, Kobe Electric Railway, and Hojo Railway, to visit Kasai City in Hyogo Prefecture. The Kobe Electric Railway Ao Line is a line currently under discussion for closure, burdened with an annual deficit of 1 billion yen. The Hojo Railway, which I transferred to, uses a second-hand Kiha 40 train purchased for 3 million yen from the Gono Line in Akita, running on tracks that have been in use for 110 years. This line finally became usable with ICOCA yesterday, and the number of users is currently at an all-time high. This local line, which could easily have disappeared, is now quietly regaining its momentum. The vast, empty rural landscape unfolds outside the train window. In fact, this was the site of a naval airfield the size of 70 Koshien Stadiums during the war. The Shiden-kai fighter plane, known as the Japanese Navy's last trump card, was assembled by 14-year-old boys and girls. After the war, the land was converted to farmland, and now only bomb storage facilities and air raid shelters remain scattered throughout the rice fields. I rented a folding bicycle from the Hojo Railway, brought it onto the train, and traced the war relics from Hokkeguchi Station. Hojo-cho, the center of Kasai City, is a well-maintained and clean town with an Aeon Mall and Starbucks in front of the station, but the scenery changes dramatically just a short walk away. "Hojo no Shuku," which flourished as a temple town for Sumiyoshi Shrine and Sakami Temple, built over 1200 years ago, was a post town where five highways intersected during the Edo period. Thanks to the Sanyo Main Line being built along the coast during the Meiji era, it was left behind by modernization, and the old merchant houses remain intact. Preparations are underway for the 900-year-old Hojo Setsuku Festival at the temple grounds; we hear the story of the Himeji Castle lord who rebuilt the temple after it burned down during the Sengoku period; and we see the 459 stone Buddha statues lined up at Rakanji Temple. And above all, the rice I ate in Kasai was delicious. For two days straight, I enjoyed Hinohikari rice grown in the Harima Plain, where water has been continuously drawn by human hands since the Kofun period. A town where local train lines run, and what lies dormant beneath them. Please enjoy this 2-day, 1-night trip to Kasai to the very end.