Kogota (Misato)

Of Interest: pleasant small town, changing trains

Lodging: No

Tourist Office: No

Int'l ATM: Kogota Post Office

Computer Access: none

Handicapped Accessible: Yes, fully

Bathrooms: Toilet paper, but no soap

Kogota Station is one of the best designed train stations that I have been in . It should be because this station is mainly a place to change trains. Kogota is a major transport hub for Miyagi Prefecture. It is a shopping and agricultural district of Misato, a small town in Miyagi Prefecture. There is a great deal of commuter housing in the area near the station.

As I was here during festival season, I got to watch a couple of dance performances at a local festival in a plaza across from the train station. This plaza is just up the main road from the station. The post office is also on this road.

The station is the terminus for three JR East lines. Kogota is twelve minutes from the nearest shinkansen stop in Furukawa by the Rikuu-tou line. Some of these trains continue on to Naruko-onsen which is about an hour away in the mountains to the east. The Kesennuma line takes about two hours and fifteen minutes to get to (surprise) Kesennuma to the north. The Minami-Sanriku line takes the same route, but because it has fewer stops, it takes an hour less. It also runs less often. The Ishinomaki line runs along the coast north to Onagawa. All of these lines run within the northern half of Miyagi Prefecture.

There are frequent trains to and from Sendai along JR's Tohoku Main Line. This line also goes to Ichinoseki, but trains are less frequent. Both cities are about forty-five minutes away.