Not many sane people jump out of bed at 2 a.m. on a Saturday morning and speed to the coast to see the sunrise. Unless, that is, you're making your way to Cape Inubosaki, Chiba Prefecture, the Kanto region's furthermost eastern point.
The earliest sunrise in Kanto that day kicked off at 4:25 a.m., setting fire to the horizon. We reached the coastline in time to see the burning sun, its spherical shape sharply cut out in the cloudless sky, making black silhouettes of fishermen already out on the rocks. Boxed lunches in hand, we perched on a hill to absorb the view.
But the reason for visiting the Inubosaki region was the quaint, old-fashioned Choshi railway, running through 10 stops to the tip of the cape from JR Choshi Station. We drove past its small one-shack stations to get to Tokawa, the station furthest south.