A steam locomotive runs through the rice fields in Aizumisato, Fukushima Prefecture.
Billowing black smoke, a steam locomotive pulling passenger cars ran through the rice fields in the Aizu Basin in Fukushima Prefecture on May 20, as the region entered a rice planting season.
The locomotive, named Shinryoku meaning fresh verdure in Japanese, carried 250 passengers for a 60-kilometer, two-and-a-half-hour ride between Aizuwakamatsu and Aizukawaguchi stations of JR Tadami Line, as a part of a special event held over the weekend to ride on the train.
The train passed by the shining water-filled paddy fields reflecting the early summer sky, blowing steam whistles as it wound through the basin known as the major production area of rice varieties such as Koshihikari, Hitomebore and Tennotsubu, a variety newly developed by the prefecture.
At Futanuma Shinrin Park in the town of Aizumisato overlooking the railway, Kenichi Sasaki, a 69-year-old rice farmer of the town, was eagerly taking photos of the steam locomotive. “Today we are given a rare chance of seeing Japan’s traditional landscape revived,” he said. “As I am a train enthusiast who loves taking pictures of trains, I was so excited that I finished rice planting early.”