電車で異世界へ DENSHA DE ISEKAI E (Off to another world by train) Thoughts on NHK’s Tsugaru Railway documentary
What’s the best train ride in Japan?
No, it’s not the boring bullet train, but the stove-grilled-squid express that trundles through whiteouts in the snow country of Tsugaru in Aomori Prefecture.
We can see this unique journey on 72 Hours on the Tsugaru Railway, another excellent 30 minute NHK World Documentary.
The journey looks and feels like an 異世界 ISEKAI (a parallel world, common in anime/SF).
Smartly dressed school children board the tiny train in a blizzard. Tourists sip sake while chewing on squid freshly grilled on a pot-belly stove inside the carriage. Train staff bring out freshly boiled water to defrost the coupling connecting the carriages.
One of the station staff calls this incident: 日常茶飯事 NICHIJOUSAHANJI (An everyday occurrence - literally the daily tea and rice)
Another worker congratulates them on their fine: チームプレー CHIIMUPUREE (Team work - from team play)
When I rode this train myself in a mid-winter snowstorm 10 years ago, I felt like I had fallen off the edge of Japan.
I guess the British equivalent of this ISEKAI experience would be a ride on a delayed local line munching a dry cheese sandwich while staff clear leaves off the line.
One of the station staff helped a local lady whose car got stuck in the snow. She explained to the documentary makers what happened:
駅の人に助けられて EKI NO HITO NI TASUKERARETA (I was helped by one of the station staff).
ありがたくて、ありがたくて ARIGATAKUTE, ARIGATAKUTE (I was so grateful).
She uses the adjective, ありがたい ARIGATAI (to be grateful) to describe her feelings as so strong, they led her to buying a bag of drinks to say thank you with an お礼O-REI (a gift to say thank you).
Sometimes a can of coffee speaks louder than words.
The Red Roof Station Café features.
We meet the owner on the platform: きっさてんをやっています。 KISSATEN O YATTE-IMASU (I run the café).
She uses the verb やる YARU a verb commonly used to mean to do, to express to manage/run.
The lady was desperate to get away from Tsugaru when she was younger:
田舎から離れたくて INAKA KARA HANARETAKUTE (I wanted to get away from the countryside)
After living in Sapporo, she now appreciates the slower pace of life in Tsugaru: 会話が必要 KAIWA GA HITSUYOU (Conversations are necessary)
As an example, she explains the train doors aren’t automatic. Customers need to ask each to close the door:
「すみません、閉めてください」SUMIMASEN, SHIMETE KUDASAI “Excuse me, please close it” (the door).
This lack of automation is one element that makes the journey feel like a timeslip for visitors.
One regular tourist who travels up from Tokyo says he feels like he has come back home even though he is not from the area.
まるで地元に帰ってきたかのようなかんじ MARU DE JIMOTO NI KAETTEKITA KA NO YOU NA KANJI (It feels just as if I have come back to my hometown).
The word 地元JIMOTO can mean local area, or one’s hometown. What a place Tsugaru is to have as your 地元JIMOTO.