"It was as though the lights of millions of firefly squids crystallized all at once and hung delicately in the air." The scenery before me reminded me of this passage in Kenji Miyazawa's "Night on the Galactic Railroad," in which a train carrying a lonely boy arrives at the "Ginga (Galactic) Station."
While this place is not a galactic railroad, it is similar as it is a railroad surrounded by countless small lights. This is an illumination called "Watarase Keikoku Railway Night," and can be seen along the train route starting from Kiryu Station in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, to Mato Station in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. During winter, all of the 17 stations along the route are illuminated with multicolored lights. In particular, Tsudo Station in the Ashio district of Nikko is particularly beautiful.
On that night, there were very few passengers and as the train approached the station, the train's lights were turned off and making the interior pitch black. The small single-car train was then surrounded by a sea of lights in a variety of colors including blue, green, yellow, pink. Through the multi-hued glow and the dark of the night, a Western-style station building emerged. In the park next to the station, everything including bushes, fences, trees and the ropes extending from them were also adorned with lights.
The population of the areas along the railway are continuing to decrease. In fiscal 1994, the number of passengers on the railway was 1.06 million people, but that figure dropped to below 700,000 in fiscal 2003. "It had gotten to the point where whether it would be possible to keep the railway or not was discussed. Residents along the railway who hoped to keep it discussed and decided to use the lights to express their hopes," Shigeru Matsushima, 67, a former member of Gunma Prefecture's Azuma village (now the city of Midori) assembly, recalls.
Under the leadership of Matsushima, residents decorated eight stations with lights in 2004, which was the beginning of the illumination event. Each year, more and more stations joined the initiative and now, the residents design an illumination display for their home station and compete with all of the other stations.
Once, the railway was said to be "transporting nothing but air" during winter. However, the illumination train tours, which are held at night on weekends and holidays, almost reach their 40-person capacity each time. "As a railway company, we tried taking various measures, but we are extremely grateful that this illumination was put together by the residents themselves," Tomokazu Shinagawa, 61, the president of Watarase Keikoku Railway Co., said.
Jinichi Matsushima, 63, and three others decorated the Tsudo Station this winter. In their spare time, they spent about 20 days decorating the station. "I haven't seen the illumination from the train myself, but I'm glad to hear people say it's beautiful," Matsushima said.
I imagine that there are more gorgeous illuminations, but the illumination prepared by residents has a special warmth that makes travelers feel welcomed. In addition, the darkness seen through the window of the train running over the valley of the upstream Watarase River is thick. The thicker the darkness, the brighter the lights shine, just like stars in the night sky.
Memo
The illumination of Watarase Keikoku Railway will run until Feb. 29, excluding the Kiryu Station. Interior lights on trains departing from Kiryu Station at 4:46 p.m. and 6:04 p.m. and from Mato Station at 6:21 p.m. and 7:46 p.m. are turned off. On weekends and national holidays, a tour that includes round-trip fare and bento boxed meal is conducted. The tour costs 2,650 yen per adult. To make reservations, call (0277)73-2110.
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