21 SEP 2026
The Thunderbird to Fukui
We took the Thunderbird, a limited express train from Osaka toward Tsuruga, but strong Hira-oroshi winds forced the train to travel along the eastern side of Lake Biwa instead of its usual route along the western shore. These powerful local winds blow from the Hira Mountains toward the lake and can stop trains or even sink boats. We were disappointed that we did not get much vision of the lake, but hopefully we will get to see the western shore sometime in the future.
Tsuruga is famous for fresh seafood but also known as the “Port of Humanity.” In the 1940s, Jewish refugees from Poland arrived there after receiving transit visas from the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. Although he was acting against his government’s orders, Sugihara issued the visas to help them escape persecution from the Nazi’s who had occupied Poland. Local residents welcomed the refugees before they continued their journeys.
Returning to our seafood expedition, we visited Nihonkai Sakana Machi, which in English is ‘The Sea of Japan Fish Market’, where we found many shops and restaurants selling sushi, sashimi, seafood rice bowls, dried seafood, and local specialties. We wandered through the market until we found a restaurant that offered some great choices of seafood at really good prices.
We each chose our favorite kaisendon, a bowl of rice topped with sashimi. Rob chose salmon, fish roe, and prawns. He isn’t a fan of squid sashimi, so he gave his squid to Yoshi. Yoshi had fish roe, crab meat, and sea urchin. Nana chose fried mackerel and soba noodles, while Youko ordered the chef’s special which had a bit of everything. I chose a simple plate of freshly caught sashimi, knowing I would probably be eating everyone else’s leftovers as well. Very smart! We finished with some very sweet boiled crab and with full stomachs, we made our way back to the station and caught the train back to Osaka.
Rob loves the trains in Japan and it is his favourite way of travelling. This ride back to Osaka was however, a ride we will remember for all the wrong reasons. About a third of the way through our trip, the train suddenly came to an abrupt halt in the middle of nowhere. A voice came through the speakers in the carriage, informing passengers that a train ahead of ours had killed someone. We were not given details so it could have hit a car.
As a result of this tragedy, our train stayed where it was for well over an hour, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rice paddies. We were all very comfortable so it didn’t faze us much. When we finally got to move, a message alerted us that there may still be some holdups along the line. We finally got back home about 2 hours later than we had expected.
It was a sad ending to what had been a really good day with family and we sympathise with those who have lost someone in this tragedy.
