Just like Ed Sheeran’s song, Perfect, if you want your significant other to fall in love with you all over again, book a ticket for a ride on the Tadami railway line that runs from Aizuwakamatsu Station in Fukushima Prefecture to Koide Station in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture. The point where your carriage overlooks the Tadami River has wowed everyone. The region is covered with heavy and thick layers of snow during winters. Located in Oku Aizu, in the northernmost part of Hanshu, the rail line branches out through Tohuku for almost 135km. And this stretch has some pretty picturesque landscapes. If you travel on the Tadami line, you get to see different shades of nature for each season.
When the train crosses over the Bridge Viewpoint on the No 1 Tadami River lane, your window is the frame for valleys, lakes, forests and mountains, all laid out like a stunning painting.Oku Aizu is not very well known. Without any hope of having a booming tourism industry, the place experienced something of a miracle when photographers went out of their way to capture the beauty of the train line. Some of it had been restored, thankfully for the joint efforts provided by the local residents. Nevertheless, the line connecting Tadami and Aizu Kawaguchi remains inaccesbile and abandoned.
There's a lot to see here. During the third and fourth week of February, the area hosts a winter carnival across all the towns and villages but the one in Tadami is special with ice sculptures and statues, firework performances and a display of local culture. In spring, cherry blossoms and dogtooth bloom covering the ground with purple and pink petals.
The town of Yanaizu has an architectural marvel known as the ancient Enzoji Temple which looks spectacular bathed in colours of autumn.