Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan (December 23, 2025) – Every winter, the Tokyo metro area hosts the 10
Railway Company Stamp Rally, a massive scavenger hunt that stretches across the Kanto Plain. Naval Air
Facility (NAF) Atsugi, located a few miles south of the Kanagawa and Tokyo boarder with easy access to
several train stations, is a great location for starting the journey that takes you throughout the
seemingly endless urban metropolis.

During my tour in Japan I have been an avid stamp collector, documenting my travels across the country
by rail. I have completed several stamp rally events in the past but the 10 Railway Company Stamp Rally
is my favorite due to the difficulty, complexity and vast scale.

This rally requires the participant to collect two limited edition ink stamps in an issued stamp book and
one trading card for each of the 10 companies. Most of the stations near NAF Atsugi have the stamp
books in the display areas near the ticket gate.

While it may seem simple, the locations for these stamps are often deep into the outskirts of the city
limits or tucked into hard to access locations with great distances between.

This rally requires hours of planning and dozens of hours of train travel to complete and is both mentally
and physically exhausting. With all of the crowded trains and platforms with standing room only, tens of
thousands of steps, dozens of flights of stairs and cold weather, it is easy to get discouraged. Despite the
negative aspects, this rally was an exciting adventure that I am looking forward to participating in again
next year.

I was first introduced to the hobby of stamp collecting when I completed the 10 Railway Company
Stamp Rally two years ago. Since then I have been traveling Japan collecting stamps at train stations,
rest stops, shrines, and castles. With this hobby, I have also been falling deeper into the Japanese train
sub-culture, collecting train cards, stickers, and a variety of other items that employees often give away
for free at stations if you ask.

The first day of my journey I picked up a stamp book from Sagami-Otsuka Station and set off heading
north to Saitama Prefecture to collect the stamps on the North and West sides of the Kanto Plain. I
arrived first at Fujimino Station, a small local suburban station on the Tobu-Tojo Line, before heading back
south, following a parallel path with the western mountains on the way back to NAF Atsugi.

This path required taking a variety of different lines, some of them were very unique and not even
trains. The Seibu Yamaguchi Line, the line required to get the stamp at Seibuen-yuenchi Station, is a
people mover, a rubber tired four-car vehicle that operates on a single dedicated paved path. This line is
primarily used to shuttle people to and from the nearby baseball stadium and amusement park.

Further south is the Tama Monorail Line, one of the lines that can be used to get the stamp at
Takahatafudo Station, an elevated straddle beam monorail that services many of the urban centers to
the west of Tokyo. This elevated line, located high above the city streets, provides beautiful views of the
nearby city landscape and the mountains to the west.

The views from the elevated tracks combined with the different and unique modes of transportation
resulted in a fun first day. I thought after doing this rally in the past I would not experience anything
new, but the journey has taken me on lines, stations and vehicles that I had never seen before.

After making a lot of progress on the first day, I was motivated to begin the second day of exploration. I
set out from Yamato Station heading towards the furthest point, Miraidaira Station, a small station to
the northeast of Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture on the Tsukuba Express Line.

Despite my frequent train travel and daily use of Yamato Station for commuting to NAF Atsugi via the
Sotetsu Main Line, I underestimated the force of the Odakyu Enoshima Line morning rush to Shinjuku.
My motivation quickly dissipated as I lined up in one of the seemingly endless lines of people waiting for
the next train to arrive on the elevated platform.

The platform was full of people and organized like a military formation with two lines waiting at each
marked location on the platform where the train doors would be. The platform became a game of Tetris
as people arriving up the stairs and escalators moved quickly, weaving through the lines, looking for a
place to stand.

When the train arrived and came to a complete stop, all of the lines stretching down the platform
simultaneously moved in unison, splitting to each side of the train doors, creating gaps for the
passengers on the train to have room to exit. The choreography was seamless.

My awe of the reorganization of hundreds of people on the crowded platform was short lived as I
squeezed my way into the overly crowded train. When the doors closed, I was completely packed in. I
felt pressure from all sides and was unable to move. If I were to pass out, I would likely still be standing
due to the people crowded around me.

At each stop, the dance of transferring of hundreds of people on and off the platform would occur. As
the doors would open people inside the train would silently push and shove their way to the exit with
urgency, desperately trying to exit before the lines on the platform would enter leaving no room for
escape. At each station the passengers formed into an ocean current that went to and from the
platform and would leave anyone who hesitated stranded behind. The people on the platform would
wait anxiously, waiting for perfect timing to pounce into the train to secure a spot for themselves.

As the train would fill, the people still on the platform would get more desperate, pushing their way into
the crowded train car to ensure they would have a claim to a few square inches of real estate. People
already in the car would be pushed deeper into the train by the crowd funneling in. There was no
resentment by those being pushed against their will, there is a mutual understanding where the victim
knows they would be the aggressor if the roles were reversed.

As the last few people pushed their way through the doors of the train, the people at the edge would
grab onto anything they could to secure themselves from being pushed back onto the platform, forming
a wall across the entrance to the train. Even as a wall of commuters completely covered the entrance
door to the train, a few stragglers would arrive just in time before the doors closed.

Unable to fit through the people blocking their entrances, the straggler would face the wall of
opponents, offer a slight bow of apology, execute an about face, walk backwards, and push themselves
through until they themselves became part of the human barricade. When the doors closed everyone
settled into their positions, patiently waiting for the next stop and for the chaos to begin again.

What was amazing about this experience was the lack of sound. All of the commotion with hundreds of
people was done in complete silence. The experience was jarring at first, but I accepted it knowing that I
was in the same situation as hundreds of other people. There was a unique sense of camaraderie, I was
fully immersed in the shared experience. It was an opportunity to live, travel, commute, and
communicate with my neighbors without the typical language or social barriers and experience a small
glimpse of Japanese working culture.

I survived the journey north and covered the north and east sides of the Kanto Plain, collecting stamps
and trading cards. This day was the opposite of the previous day I spent near the mountains, this day
was spent mostly in the heart of Tokyo, going through Ginza, Nihonbashi, Akihabara, and Ueno.

I spent the third and final day of my adventure collecting all the stamps in Kanagawa Prefecture and the
few I was missing in the south of Tokyo Prefecture. I started the day heading south to get the stamp at
Zushi Station before heading north to Kawasaki.

I felt nostalgic as I rode the Keikyu Zushi Line north past Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka’s (CFAY)
Ikego Family Housing Facility, remembering collecting the stamp at the nearby Jimmuji Station during
the last stamp rally and my daily commute on the Keikyu Main Line when I worked at CFAY.

As I went further north, I was mesmerized by the views from the elevated tracks going through
Yokohama and Kawasaki, taking in the dense urban landscape and looking down at the bustling areas
below. It was amazing to see the scenery change from the quiet beach city of Zushi to the massive urban
port cities on the Tokyo Bay.

From there the urban sprawl continued into Tokyo as I collected stamps at Ookayama, Kyodo, and
Fujimigaoka stations. This route required a transfer at Shibuya Station and ended at a train store in
Shinjuku station where I collected one of the trading cards.

Navigating Shinjuku and Shibuya stations, the two busiest train stations in the world in terms of number
of daily passengers, was a hectic but good experience. This stamp rally took me to massive stations like
Shinjuku, a station that sees over 3 million riders per day, to small rural stations like Kunugiyama Station
that only has about 3 thousand riders per day.

It was interesting to see the opposite ends of such a massive and intricate rail network. Seeing firsthand
the many train lines servicing the small rural stations on the outskirts of the city move people like veins
to the heart of the massive city center stations and then pumping them back out in all directions with
such precision and ease is truly a marvel to witness.

I have been actively traveling the Kanto Plain by rail for the last three years, spending a lot of my free
time exploring and completing multiple stamp rallies. Before setting out to start this rally I thought I had already seen everything and been everywhere, but I did not realize until the third day how wrong I was. The more places I went, the more I discovered how little I had explored in this seemingly endless urban metropolis.

This rally took me by train through Kanagawa, Tokyo, Saitama, and Chiba Prefectures, and to parts of the
Kanto Plain I did not even know existed. Some places I had been to many times before, but many of
them I would not have traveled to if it had not been for this rally. I am glad to have had a reason to go to
these places and explore neighborhoods in the Tokyo Metro area I had never been before. Even though I
have just finished this rally, I am already excited to find out where it will take me next year.

Whether you are a rail fan, train enthusiast, traveler, scavenger hunter, or a person who wants to get
away from the tourist traps, this rally is for you. Start now because this year’s rally ends January 25,
2026. NAF Atsugi has a lot of fun things to do inside the base\, but from time to time it is good to get
beyond the gate, pick up a stamp book and enjoy your duty in Japan.

NAF Atsugi supports the combat readiness of Commander, Fleet Air Western Pacific, Commander,
Carrier Air Wing (CVW) FIVE, Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 51 and 23 other tenant
commands, and provides logistic support, coordination, and services to units assigned to the Western
Pacific.