Take the Pink Train in Takachiho

Take the Pink Train in Takachiho
Take the Pink Train in Takachiho

A nice environmentally friendly story from Japan about a very colourful train.

Having had to turn round on a trip to London last week, as I got a notification tubes may not be running later, and spending over two hours queuing into Bath this morning, I thought I’d put this up for other poor souls trying to get around at the moment.

The Amaterasu Railway in a beautiful part of Japan, Takachiho, runs pink trains and carriages with open roofs and has just moved from diesel to a rather special biodiesel make from leftover tonkotsu ramen broth. I’ve added a link to make at home, the broth not the biodiesel, if you are brave but basically it is simmered pork marrow. To prepare you boil pork bones for about 8 to 12 hours on a fast roiling boil. The broth is seasoned and the fat is skimmed off but then returned to it at the end of the cooking, whisked back in to make the broth really creamy. It does sound delicious.

The aromas from the engines must be quite something unusual, and make you very hungry too. With each journey in an open carriage taking them on a half hour journey through spectacular scenery including going over Japan’s highest train bridge, accompanied now with, instead of the unpleasant smell of diesel, the passengers are enjoying smelling fried rice and pork. I know which I’d prefer!

I got the story from Spoon and Tamago, one of my favourite blogs. If your Japanese is good, you may be able to ‘read’ the original post here but if not, like me, check the pics instead, the pics are lovely. Its definitely a journey to add to the bucket list and seems the conductors blow bubbles too!

I used Adobe Stock to get a licensed image from Takachiho to illustrate the post and I’m hoping it will be good inspiration for me. I’ve just got a new Sony capable of shooting 4k at 120 frames per second so a trip to Wales is on the cards to find some beautiful water to film in slow mo. I’m really looking forward to creating some stunning b-roll. It’s definitely time to update my reel and a bit may creep in.

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