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Japanese rural railway query

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peteb

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I've just watched a film "Our little sister" shot in Japan in 2014. As well as several urban electric railway sequences set s.w. of Tokyo there is a scene filmed at a rural station on a single track line, using a single maroon painted diesel railcar. All film references on google yield only city locations, but clearly this is not. I'm really interested to know where this line is. Has anyone seen the film (currently on BBC iplayer) and does anyone know where this rural line is?
 
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WideRanger

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What a film that is...
I think it’s the Watarase Keikoku line near Nikko.
The production diary confirms that is right for the area where they go to meet the younger sister. Details of the line are at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watarase_Keikoku_Line.

The station called Kajigazawa Onsen in the film is actually Ashio Station in real life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashio_Station

Of course, most of the film is set in Kamakura (quite close to where I used to live!), and features the Enoden.
 

peteb

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The production diary confirms that is right for the area where they go to meet the younger sister. Details of the line are at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watarase_Keikoku_Line.

The station called Kajigazawa Onsen in the film is actually Ashio Station in real life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashio_Station

Of course, most of the film is set in Kamakura (quite close to where I used to live!), and features the Enoden.
Many thanks, I really fancy a trip to Japan once Covid resolves and that 40km branch line would be a great contrast to busy city networks!
 

yoyothehobo

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Japan is really worth a visit, the difference between the Shinkansen and the city networks, especially the Yamanote line in Tokyo, but also the more rural lines such as the route from Hakodate to Sapporo in Hokkaido and the rural lines surrounding there as well.
 

Shinkansenfan

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Once Japan allows tourists to enter again, make haste to get to Japan. The rural branch lines are under extreme threat of abandonment due to depopulation, COVID, rural to city migration, rolling stock and physical plant becoming life expired, railway staff aging and retiring, continued new highway construction parallel to railway lines, and a plethora of natural disasters that can permanently shut a line without notice (typhoons, landsides, earthquakes, etc). And if autonomous vehicles become a reality, I can foresee many rural branch lines quickly shutting forever. And not just in Japan.

I had to scrap a planned trip this year taking several weeks to ride as many endangered rural lines as possible. This follows prior trips where I've concentrated on riding endangered lines in different regions, such as Hokkaido, eastern Honshu and Kyushu.
 
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