The most difficult section of the Seishun 18 Ticket in Japan is the super remote Soutaro Pass. From Saiki Station on the JR Kyushu Nippo Main Line, which straddles Oita Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture, to Nobeoka Station, there is only one local train per day from Shigeoka Station onwards, making it an extremely difficult section. Furthermore, the last local train in Japan departs from Shigeoka Station at 6:47am! After that, there are no trains in the Nobeoka direction for 24 hours! Furthermore, to board the train, you must stay the night before in Saiki. Board the green car of the earliest last train in Japan from Saiki Station, miss the last train at Shigeoka Station, cross the super remote Soutaro Station and make a tough 35km walking train journey to Nobeoka Station! Secret tips for crossing Soutaro on the Seishun 18 Ticket, the autumn unlimited ride pass! If you miss the last train, just walk! Sōtarō Pass is a pass on the border between Saiki City, Oita Prefecture (formerly Ume Town, Minamiabe District) and Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture (formerly Kitagawa Town, Higashiusuki District). The route over this pass is widely known as Sōtarō-goe, which is also the nickname for the pass itself. The JR Kyushu Nippo Main Line and National Route 10 run almost parallel to each other along the Abumi River, a Kitagawa River system, through the steep mountains, and the area has long been known as a difficult place to travel. The settlement of Sōtarō is said to have begun around 1693, and its name is said to come from Sumoto Sōtarō, who was ordered by the Oka Domain to manage the area. On the Nippo Main Line, the section from Shigeoka Station on the Oita Prefecture side, through Sōtarō Station, to Ichitana Station on the Miyazaki Prefecture side is commonly called Sōtarō-goe. The railway line, with a steep gradient of 20/1000, runs through a total of 37 tunnels through the steep mountainous terrain. However, there are no tunnels on the prefectural border. In addition, a branch office boundary is set up near the prefectural border (located between the Nobeoka entrance of the 4th Sotaro Tunnel near Sotaro Station and the prefectural border), and the jurisdiction of the line is divided between the Oita Branch Office of JR Kyushu and the Kagoshima Branch Office of JR Kyushu (Miyazaki General Railway Division). Construction on this section was extremely difficult, and it was opened in December 1923 (Taisho 12), the latest on the Nippo Main Line north of Miyazaki City. Currently, the Oita side and the Miyazaki side are treated as different operating routes, with most local trains turning around at Saiki Station on the Oita side and Nobeoka Station on the Miyazaki side, and there are only 1.5 round trips of local trains that run directly between Saiki Station and Nobeoka Station per day. The Nichirin Express runs from Oita to Miyazaki, but with the timetable change in March 2021, many of these routes have been shortened to the Hyuga Express, which runs between Miyazaki Airport Station and Nobeoka Station. The influence of the Higashi Kyushu Expressway, which is free between Saiki and Nobeoka, has had a major impact on JR Kyushu and this super remote area. #Railway-related pedestrians #Remote station #JR Kyushu 0:00 Saiki Station 3:43 Shigeoka Station 13:25 Super remote station Sotaro Station 18:50 Oita-Miyazaki Prefecture border 23:22 Ichitana Station 26:42 Kitagawa Station 30:33 Roadside station Kitagawa Hayuma 32:11 Hyuga Nagai Station 35:26 Kita Nobeoka Station 39:15 Nobeoka Station