2009 Japan Nash Hash

Where is it?
Accomodations
How do you get there by train? (top)
Train Access Diagram
By train from central Tokyo
Express from JR Shinjuku direct to Tobu Shimo-Imaichi
JR Shonan-Shinjuku line from Shinjuku or JR Tohoku main line from Ueno, via Utsunomiya to JR Imaichi
Shinkansen from Tokyo/Ueno to Utsunomiya then Nikko line to JR Imaichi
From Further West via Tokyo Station
From Haneda Airport
From Narita Airport
How do you get there by car? (top)
What about the beer?

Where is it?

This year’s Nash Hash will be held in Imaichi-shi, Tochigi (Nikko).

Nikko’s breathtaking scenery and breath-of-fresh-air nature provides the perfect setting for great trails. This area has allowed us to plan runs of all kinds: challenging, whimpy, long, short, uphill, downhill, and even, potentially, monkey encounters. On top of that, the area is full of history and culture for those hoping to do a little sightseeing before or after the Nash Hash.

Accommodations

Accommodations will be provided by Famitec. Located away from crowded residential areas, Famitec provides the privacy we need to be, well, hashers. The facilities include communal Japanese style baths, in-room showers, spacious rooms (4-6 people/room), several communal areas, and vending machines in the lobby (for those late-night munchies and beer-cravings…that’s if you haven’t had enough during the day, of course!). It also includes a sports ground where you can kick or throw a ball around and such like (if you don’t get enough exercise on Trail), and a sports hall where we can enjoy circles, parties and entertainment, even if the weather turns really foul. The address is 栃木県日光市室瀬456 (とちぎけんにっこうしむろぜ456, Tochigiken nikkoushi muroze 456).

How do you get there by train?

If you live outside the Tokyo/Kanagawa area, I’d recommend coming to Tokyo on Friday 9th in time for the F3H3 prelube (details to be decided). In that case, or if you live in the Tokyo area, you’ll probably need to know how to travel to Nikko from Central Tokyo. Otherwise you’ll need to find a way from Tokyo Station, Haneda Airport or Narita Airport.

Thanks to Nikko’s status as one of Japan’s most popular sightseeing destinations, it’s fairly easy to make your way there, or to the Nash Hash venue from Tokyo, and the trains are mostly pretty frequent. It also means there’s quite a wide choice of routes, depending on where you’re starting from, how you travel to Tokyo, how much time you’re willing to take, how much money you’re willing to spend, the colour of your underwear, what you had for breakfast and **** knows what else.

You should get yourself (and your hashing gear) to Shimo-Imaichi station on the Tobu Nikko line or to Imaichi station on the JR Nikko line by early afternoon on Saturday 10th October. We could simply leave it at that and let you work the rest out for yourselves but that would lead to dozen of hashers all duplicating the same research (and I reckon some of them would find it all too complicated and decide not to go to Nash Hash). In the interests of efficiency, your Nash Hash Mismanagement (or more preceisely, Rapunzel) has sought out the best ways from Tokyo to Nash Hash. (Who said ‘densha-otaku’?) The diagram is supposed to help you to understand the descriptions below. There are links below the map for some stations and lines, and there are links to station diagrams, timetables or transfer maps for the transfers on foot.

The railway companies change their timetables now and then so we can’t be entirely sure that any details here will still be exactly the same at the time of Nash Hash.

Train Access Diagram

Some useful links:

Narita Express Information
Monorail Information
Hamamatsucho Station Diagram
Tokyo Station Diagram
Nippori Station Diagram
Map of Transfer at Asakusa
Map of Transfer Sekiya to Ushida

From Central Tokyo

Tobu Isesaki line direct to Shimo-Imaichi

I recommend this route. To travel on an ‘Limited Express’ train you must reserve a seat, which you should do quite early because half of Japan will be travelling that weekend! You can reserve online but only in Japanese. I reckon the best plan is to arrive in Tokyo on Friday (in time for the F3H3 Prelube) and get up early enough on Saturday to take one of the ‘Rapid’ trains. The table shows a summary of the trains on this line, which you can also take from Kita Senju station 10 minutes later.

Express from JR Shinjuku direct to Tobu Shimo-Imaichi

Four trains a day at 07:30, 10:35, 13:05 & 17:35, takes 1 hour 42 min (the first takes 1 hr 50), costs 3,820 yen, seats must be reserved, which you can do online in English or in Japanese. These often get fully booked well in advance. Recommended only if Shinjuku station is much more convenient for you than Asakusa or Kita-Senju.

JR Shonan-Shinjuku line from Shinjuku or JR Tohoku main line from Ueno, via Utsunomiya to JR Imaichi

I would not recommend these routes (unless the JR sation is much more convenient for you than Asakusa or Kita Senju) becauses they cost about as much as the Tobu limited express and take about as long as the Tobu ’section rapid’.

Shinkansen from Tokyo/Ueno to Utsunomiya then Nikko line to JR Imaichi

This costs 4,920 yen and takes 1 hour 30 minutes or more (depending on how long you have to wait in Utsunomiya for the infrequent Nikko line) so if you’d have to travel across Tokyo to Tokyo Station or Ueno Station first, it really isn’t much faster than the Tobu express.

From Further West via Tokyo Station

If you’re coming to Tokyo from further west by shinkansen, the simplest way is to take another shinkansen from Tokyo to Utsunomiya then the Nikko line to JR Imaichi. That takes about 1 hour 30 min or more, depending on how long you have to wait in Utsunomiya for the infrequent Nikko line.

The Tobu express from Kita Senju is still cheaper: the saving is about 6 beers if you come from Hiroshima but only about 4 beers if you come from Osaka. Unfortunately there’s no direct train from Tokyo Station to Asakusa or Kita Senju. I’d recommend the JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku line to Nippori then the JR Joban line to Kita Senju, which takes 20-30 min. (I believe your ticket covers this if you come to Tokyo from another part of Japan by JR.)

From Haneda Airport

The simplest way is a Keikyu train (which later becomes a Toei subway train) direct to Asakusa then a Tobu express from Asakusa to Shimo-Imaichi. Haneda to Asakusa takes 40 to 47 minutes, costs 640 yen and there are 6 trains every hour. Keikyu trains from Haneda airport go to 16 different destinations but you should take a train for one of these: Keisei Sakura, Inba-Nihon-Idai or Inzai-Makinohara (most likely); or Aoto, Keisei Narita, Keisei Takasago, Narita Airport, Shibayama-Chiyoda, Sogosando (also possible). Depending on the timing, it could be slightly quicker to take the Monorail to Hamamatsucho, the JR Yamanote line to Tokyo Station, shinkansen to Utsumoniya and Nikko line to Imaichi but that costs 9 or 10 beers more.

From Narita Airport

I recommend a Keisei express train (about every 20 minutes, takes about 1 hour; not Skyliner) then change once or twice to get to Asakusa or Kita Senju to take the Tobu line:

1. change at Aoto to Keisei Oshiage line direct to Asakusa (12 trains per hr, takes 9 min) to have a better chance of getting a seat on the Tobu line (transfer at Asakusa);
2. change at Nippori to JR Joban line to Kita Senju;
3. change at Aoto to local train (destination Ueno, 6 trains per hr, takes 6 min), get off at Keisei Sekiya, cross the street to Ushida station and take any train (6 per hr) one stop to Kita Senju (all easy changes)

All three of these cost about the same (3 is cheapest) and should take about three hours overall to Shimo-Imaichi.

If you’d rather spend your money on train tickets than on beer, take the JR Narita Express (NEX) to Tokyo Station, or the Keisei Skyliner to Ueno; then the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya etc. but that’s not likely to be much quicker overall.

Underwear

Don’t ride on any JR trains if you’re wearing orange or purple underwear.

Breakfast

Don’t use any public transport if you had beans for breakfast.

How do you get there car?

From almost anywhere in Japan:

Simply set your navigation system for 栃木県日光市室瀬456 (とちぎけんにっこうしむろぜ456, Tochigiken nikkoushi muroze 456).

If that isn’t a practical solution in your case, you could specify the above address as your destination in your favourite route finding website.

If that doesn’t help either, you might have to do it the old-fashioned way.

From the Tokyo/Kanagawa area

Find your way to the Tohoku Expressway (東北自動車道) and head towards Utsunomiya.
At Utsunomiya IC (宇都宮ＩＣ), 103 km from Kawaguchi JCN (川口ＪＣＮ), take the Nikko-Utsunomiya Road (日光宇都宮道路)
At Imaichi IC (今市ＩＣ), 20 km from Utsunomiya IC, leave the Niko-Utsunomiya Road.
At Kasugacho (春日町) crossing, 1.8 km from the Nikko-Utsunomiya road main carriageway, turn right onto Route 119
At Oguramachi (小倉町) crossing continue on Route 119
At Ogura footbridge (小倉歩道橋) 0.8 km from Kasugacho, turn right
At the second traffic lights, turn left onto Route 121, the cedar avenue
After 2.1 km on the cedar avenue turn right to Famitek. There is a tall, narrow sign for ‘ファミテック’ on the left side of the road just before the turning.

From further west

It seems the best way is the Tomei Expressway all the way to Tokyo IC
At Tokyo IC turn left onto Route 311, Kanpachi-dori (環七通り)
After 11.9 km, turn off Route 311 but continue north onto Route 443, Sasame-dori (笹目通り)
After about 1.8 km turn off the main carriageway onto the exit lane
At Yahara crossing (谷原) turn left onto Route 24, Mejiro-dori (目白通り) and follow the bend to the right
About 1 km later, stay on Route 24 as it bends left (DON’T take the Kan-Etsu Expressway – かんえつ自動車道!)
After another 0.9 km, at Oizumi IC (大泉ＩＣ) turn right into to the expressway entrance
Keep right for the Tokyo-Gaikan Expressway (東京外環自動車道)
At Kawaguchi JCN (川口ＪＣＮ), 17.3 km from Oizumi IC, take the Tohoku Expressway (東北自動車道) towards Utsunomiya
Proceed as above from Tokyo.

From Ibaraki-ken

From around Tsukuba and Ushiku, there are two fast routes and a shorter but probably slower route. But hey, you Ibaraki hashers already know how to get around by car don’t you?

If you have any questions about how to get there, please contact Rapunzel.