Fukushima Coast Trail, Japan

South of Sendai I was intending to do the bear-free Fukushima Coast Trail, walking northwards as a change. Then I started to suspect it might not be a particularly pleasant trail so I decided to walk just the first part using Iwaki as a base.

3 December I began my walk with a loop from Nakoso station because this was the nearest point to the official start that I could reach. After a few minutes on a busy road I turned onto a quiet forest road and went uphill heading for Nakoso Barrier Park, the start line. The Barrier turned out not to be at all what I was expecting, since I was expecting a concrete barrier of some sort and this one was the notional demarcation line from the 8th century of where civilised Japan started/ended. There was a lovely forest path with old stones engraved with poems, reconstructed gateways and a mini reconstruction of the original shrine. Unfortunately it was raining so no sea view.

I came down to the coast and a beach with a rock and a small torii gate, a power station further along the coast and lots of construction work. I was able to walk on the sand for a while until I came to where they were extending the sea wall. Back to the town streets and Nakoso station for the train to Iwaki. 7kms

4 December Back to Nakoso on a sunny but bitterly cold day, I thought it might be snowing very lightly; I asked some people if this was happening, they said the snow was blowing from the mountains and anyway where was I going because this street didn't lead anywhere! I found the beach and was able to walk on the sand until I had a long detour inland on a walkway to get across two river mouths, bringing me close to the Ueda power station. I was on a levee above a wetland then got back to the beach and walked on the sand watching some surfers, there were white cliffs at the end of the beach with caves at sea level and the sea was rough.

I walked on a mixture of busy and quiet roads, a short visit to small Obama beach where the water came through a cave towards the road, a quick sea view of a sea stack, and Ohata park with niwaki trees and looking very wintry. At the end of the park there was a lookout tower with a view over the docks: oil tanks, cranes, ships, cement works. I had to walk right through the centre of it all on a wide road that was fortunately quiet.

I emerged by curiously named Iwaki La La Mew and opposite a mall, where I went to Mister Donut to get warm. 19 kms

5 December Back to La La Mew (a line of restaurants) and I was glad to leave the port area behind me. I went into Misaki Park on a headland with little walkways and other people. I visited tiny Matsuchita beach with a sea worn tunnel in its cliff, next bay had a lookout tower, up onto cliff top for view of a sandy beach and I went into Iwaki Marine Tower to go up the escalator for a clear view over the whole area: the port, mountains inland, urban sprawl and Nagasaki beach I was about to walk along.

From there I went over the sea wall onto more beach with nice cliffs at the end, was on and off the wall for a long time (but it wasn't very walker friendly) and went through a few small fishing ports.

I walked the length of Ena town with views of concreted cliffs, after that there was a concrete walkway on a levee between Toyama beach and the pines planted behind the beach. I could see Shioyazaki lighthouse at the far end. At the base of the lighthouse cliff I was surprised to find a cafe and a few tourists. The next beach Usuiso was sandwiched between cliffs,

and across the road I visited the tsunami memorial museum, video showing the impact of the tsunami on this somewhat different coastline.

For the next part I walked again on a path on the levee between pines and a long open beach with frequent tetrapods. The shoreline sand was sculpted into a low scalloped ridge because of the tetrapods.

There were a few walkers, a few fishermen, a small group of little birds and two people practising their golf on the beach. I crossed the first river and went on. But when I reached the second river the path abruptly stopped and there was no way across so I had to backtrack and from there I was on a very busy road with no shoulder even on the long bridge across the river despite being the official walk route. So I turned off as soon as I could and walked between fields to Kusano where I could get a warm snack at the 7/11 and the train back to Iwaki. It was dark and very cold by the time the train came. 30 kms

6 December From Kusano I walked between the fields on small roads and paths and in the sunshine it was very nice. I walked a bit along a river with ducks and cranes and then back for more kilometres behind the long beach.

There was a michi no eki with a busy shop and then a patch of coast with waves smashing over a rock platform, but immediately I went through two pedestrian tunnels beside road tunnels (a beach in the break between tunnels). I emerged to see a torii gate on a rock linked to the shore by a red bridge,

and across the road was Hattachi shrine with a red main building and a cute guardian stone frog. Then another very long beach and tetrapods all along, ending at a cliff where there were surfers, a fishing port and a view of Hirono power station. 

That was really the end of the coast walking. I went over a hill in forest and down to a village, then more inland walking crossing the railway line and a major road several times with the sea sometimes in the distance. My final sea view included a line of tetrapod barriers and the power station chimneys. I finished at Hirono station. 24 kms

Total 80 kms