The TBS summary states:
A tale of tragic love between Yoshimori Shibata (played by Etsushi Toyokawa), a station employee at a quiet, rural station, and Kahori Machimura (played by Yui Natsukawa), the wife of the heir to a family fortune. When Kahori's husband (Hiromu Watanuki - played by Shiro Sano) uncovers their affair, the star-crossed lovers try to flee with Kahori's daughter (Shiori Machimura - played by Ann Suzuki). Their search of safety and happiness take them across the nation, from Hokkaido to Kagoshima. Filmed on location, this is an unforgettable story of romance told against the backdrop of some of the most beautiful scenery in Japan.
I had joined in the City of Fairfield-Nirasaki Sister City Delegation trip from Friday, October 5 to Monday, October 8. Nirasaki is in Yamanashi Prefecture. Mitsutoshi and Kazuko Tsutsumi kindly hosted me on the their hilly country farm with beautiful views of the mountains. Mitsutoshi is a retired civil servant. Kazuko is a professor at Yamanashi Gakuin University in nearby Kofu. The delegation made the trip to celebrate the 30th year anniversary of the sister city relationship. Another purpose was to unveil a monument of Kieko and Elbert Whitaker for the dedication to promoting the sister city ties. On Sunday afternoon, we marched in parade through Downtown Nirasaki to honor Takeda family who had ruled Yamanashi Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture through March 3, 1582. The warriors were beautifully dressed in their battle gear. Members of the retinue were in fine dress. It was a great spectacle of to see the honor guards shooting their flintlock rifles. Handmaidens were dressed in colorful gowns. This parade was simply grandiose in scope.
Fujimi
is a beautiful resort town in Nagano Prefecture on the
highlands at the foot of the majestic Yatsugatake Mountains
on the island of Honshu. It is known for its eight mountain
peaks that soar to 3,000 meters. Ponds are found among the
deep virgin forest. A panoramic view of Mount Fuji can be
seen from Fujimi. The Yatsugatake Chushin Kogen Quasi
National Park is nearby. The region is known, as the Japanese
Alps for is beautiful green mountains on the "Roof of
Japan." Fujimi is short ride of 31.2 kilometers from
Nirasaki. The area has spectacles of mountains, heights,
forests, and lakes. White birches are in abundance with
alpine flora blending in with the beautiful greenery of
mountains. Fujimi is a place of nature, history, culture and
recreation. Farming of vegetables, fruits, and flowers is
widespread in the valley.
On
Monday morning, October 8, the Tsutsumis drove me to Anayama
Station on the Japan Railways Minobu Line. The Japanese were
celebrating Sports Day, a national holiday. My journey
started at 9:18 a.m. The ordinary (local) train ran passed
stations at Hinoharu, Nagasaka, and Kobutisawa to
Shinano-Sakai Station and arrived at 9:46 a.m. in the village
of Sakai in Fujimi. Shinano-Sakai Station is the
"Kiyosumi Station" where Yoshimori worked along
with Kenji Shibata (played by Gin Maeda), his father, who is
the stationmaster. The streets of village next to the Station
were very quiet.
I
explored around the Station and crossed the bridge to the
other platform. Station appeared in fair condition. A
bluebird cage is hung at a corner of the Station building
near the passenger platform on the trackside. Two elderly men
were managing the Station. A collection of "Aoi
Tori" photos is hung in the wall at a corner of waiting
room, which had a heater. Overall activity at the Station was
quiet.
Ichiro Arai, the tour guide, met me in front of the Shinano-Sakai Station in a green Mitsubishi Delica van at 10:31 a.m. He is a 32-year-old single man who loves nature. He graduated from Seikei University in Tokyo. His hobbies include photography, videotaping, web design, and swimming. Ichiro's parents operate Pension Raccoon, an alpine style lodging. Two ladies join us for the tour. Rieko Murakami is from Yokohama and Katsumi Ishii is from Kangawa. Rieko is an office lady with two sons. Katsumi is a housewife with three daughters. They had stayed the previous night at Pension Raccoon. They are fans of "Aoi Tori" who enjoyed the company of an American fan.
Ichiro drove around the scenes of "Aoi Tori" through the town where Yoshimori walked and biked. The fall harvest was in full swing. Senior farmers were busy collected rice and burning chaff in the fields. Cosmo flowers were in full bloom in a multitude of colors. The day was generally overcast and cool. During the drive along the countryside, we saw the summer rental house where Kahori and Yoshimori were to rendezvous. We stopped at three bridges. Ichiro begun to drive up the mountain road as we saw town of Fujimi below us. The mountain forest was in the autumn colors that were pervasive everywhere. Crystal streams flowed down the hills as creeks into rivers of the valley plain.
During the drive to the famous tree at
"Otomegahara," Ichiro picked up a couple from
Tokyo. We then walked up a mountain trail to the lonely
"Shirakaba," (elm) tree on a grassy knoll. Fujimi
residents know the grassy knoll as "Nyukasa
Bokujyo." This place was where Yoshimori and Shiori
watched the shooting stars. The same place is Yoshimori and
Kahori made love under the stars on the grounds below the
tree. The view of the Yasugatake Mountains was quite
impressive. The area was cold with a strong wind howling in
our faces. A meadow with cows grazing is below the tree.
At 1:30 p.m., Ichiro took us a high-class restaurant, "Sumire-Tei," which was the scene of Yoshimori and Hiromu dining at the sushi restaurant. We ate a bowl of delicious tempura udon. We visited the Fujimi-Cho Community Plaza where Yoshimori and Shiori met at the public library. "Aoi Tori" posters and plaques were hung on a wall. Mikiko Akimito's (played by Hiromi Nagasaku) noodle shop is located near the Fujimi Station. It is now a shoe store. Mikiko is Yoshimori's childhood friend who secretly loved him.
We saw the temple where the "Night of the
Festival" where Yoshimori and Kahori passionately held
hands in secret. 
We saw other scenes of the beautiful
countryside. Yoshimori's home was modest and had a solar
panel roof. Along the way, we saw Minami Middle School where
Shiori attended. We walked through the rice paddy fields
where Yoshimori and Mikiko strolled together. The graveyard
with a solitary pine tree was in the horizon. The tree
forlornly hung over 
where Kahori’s
tombstone stood. At 4:30 p.m. Ichiro dropped off Rieko and
Katsumi at the Kobutisawa Station for their departure to
their homes. The cost of the tour is 5,000 yen.
Ichiro and I arrived at Pension Raccoon at 5:00 p.m. for my one night stay. I met Ichiro's parents, Senzaburo and Namiko Arai, who are the owners of Pension Raccoon. Pension Raccoon was established in November 1995. The Arais have a beagle dog. Pension Raccoon is located on a row of other pensions. This lodging has eight rooms. A one night stay including dinner and breakfast is 10,000 yen, I ate a hearty dinner with two senior ladies also were in the dinning room at 6:30 p.m. The dinner consisted soup, appetizers, fish filet, beef stew and apple strudel. During the dinner, Ichiro played a slideshow of "Aoi Tori" scenes with the "L'oiseau Bleu" soundtrack.
I rose early at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, October 9. to have a breakfast at 7:00 a.m.. Another fine meal consisted of fruit salad, toast, buns, ham and eggs. Ichiro offers a Kiyosumi Note book, "L'oiseau Bleu" Kiyosumi photo album compact disk, and S.E.N.S. "L'oiseau Bleu" soundtrack. I bought the book for 500 yen, the compact disk for 2,000-yen, and the S.E.N.S. soundtrack at 2,850 yen. He is very talented photographer who specializes in landscapes. Ichiro shot the photos with his Fuji FinePix 6900 Zoom digital camera from May 28, 2001 to June 29, 2001. The Kiyosumi Note book has 48 pages of photos and Japanese text. The Kiyosumi photo album compact disk has 209 photos of scenes, HTML documents of the Pension Raccoon website, slide show of 50 slides, and video clip movie of 68 seconds. The "L'oiseau Bleu" soundtrack has eleven moody songs. Along with the two items, Ichiro also gave me a set of five photos of "Aoi Tori" scenes. Senzaburo gave a set of colorful five postcards of Taizi Harada: "Four Seasons in Japan."
We took group pictures in front of Pension Raccoon. The road was wet from the overnight rain. Ichiro dropped me off the Shinano-Sakai Station. I departed to Toyokawa-Shi in Aichi-Ken to visit my friends at 8:34 a.m. on Japan Railways Minobu Line.
My journey to the town of Fujimi was very memorable. I will always remember the beautiful rural scenery surrounded by an evergreen forest in Fujimi. I felt the moods of a tragic romance between Yoshimori and Kahori. The place left me with a mystical feeling about the world of "Aoi Tori".
Pension Raccoon Data:
Pension Raccoon
10215-7 Fujimi-Machi Suwa-Gun
Nagano-Ken 399-0101
Japan
e-mail reservation@pension-raccoon.com (pension reservation) or raccoon@root.or.jp
telephone +81-266-66-3166
fax +81-266-66-3166
website Http://www.pension-raccoon.com (this website has sixteen photo sets of the tour course)
Raymond Chong is the Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Fairfield in California. He lives in Oakland with Mabel, wife, and Kenji Kaio, their son. raychong@prodigy.net