IKEDA

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nogizaka
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IKEDA

Post by nogizaka » Sun Sep 10, 2006 8:02 pm

Finally, I am able to write about the visit my wife and I made to Ikeda. To view the photographs, please go to:

http://groups.msn.com/DCTGardenIkeda/pictures

022 – Downtown Ikeda at 8:40 on a Tuesday morning, taken from in front of the train station. As you can see, Ikeda is a small, VERY quiet town. The four-story building on the left is Ikeda’s only hotel, which was completely booked (we stayed the previous night at a hostel farther down this street). The large building at the end of the street is a sports arena, featuring the prefabricated concrete slab construction you will notice in some of the other photos. Functional certainly, but not very attractive. The vehicle on the left is a ‘Wine Taxi’, Ikeda’s cab service. We learned the location of Miwa’s parent’s house from one of the cab drivers…

012 – The house. A fairly large, more recent construction (my wife and I don’t believe that this is the house Miwa grew up in for reasons I will explain). There was no nameplate on this house, and no one appeared to be home. The block this house is located in slopes up left to the bank of the Toshibetsu River. The tower on the right is visible in the next photograph. The street this photo is taken from continues as a bridge crossing the river.

This neighborhood, which is bounded by Miwa’s elementary school, her middle school, the river, and a canal, is pretty much representative of Ikeda. It is an odd combination of new construction, older, well-kept homes, and neglected/abandoned buildings unlike other towns I had seen in Japan. My wife agreed that this was not typical of the small Japanese towns she had seen.

018 – The riverbank, just over the hill from Miwa’s neighborhood. This is similar to the picture in the blog. There were dandelions, but they had bloomed already.

004 – A short walk across the bridge brought us to the daycare center Miwa attended, and later would go to pick up her youngest brother sometimes.

001 – The elementary school, as seen in the blog. More concrete slabs. This is right across the street from Miwa’s parent’s house. In a SWITCH magazine article from a few years ago, Miwa stated she could skate from her home to this school or the middle school in a few minutes, indicating that her house had a central location in the neighborhood. Her parent’s house would be less than a minute from this school, which is why we think Miwa did not grow up in that house. This was taken on a Sunday, which is why the school looks so quiet.

002 – The middle school, on the opposite side of the neighborhood from the elementary school, and much more attractive. Also taken on Sunday.

003 – The only house we could find in the neighborhood with a “Yoshida” nameplate. Is it Miwa’s uncle’s house (she says her uncle and aunt live close by)? We don’t know. This was as close as I wanted to get without disturbing the people I could see inside.

021 – The only bookstore we could find in Ikeda (there were no CD’s for sale, even though the sign says there are). The adjacent building was a bookstore as well, but appears to be closed and unoccupied. Perhaps this was where Miwa’s mother specially ordered a book of stories by Hans Christian Anderson for her. Miwa mentions this bookstore more than once- it appears to have been significant to her. If this old shell is the same bookstore, it must be saddening to Miwa to see it.

Again, this juxtaposition of active and seemingly abandoned buildings was common in Ikeda.

011 – The signs for the Wine Castle and DCT garden IKEDA.

007 – DCT garden IKEDA and the Wine Castle, on a hill overlooking the town. The Castle looks more like a pillbox, thanks to the concrete slabs! It was not very impressive- for some reason, everything there was closed but the gift shop (which was nice, but nothing special).

Cameras and recorders were not permitted to be used inside DCT garden IKEDA, otherwise I would have some really cool photos for you. This was definitely worth the trip! Most of the costumes were carefully vacuum-sealed into frames so front and back could be seen (two of the wooden crates that held the frames are visible through the windows). My personal favorite- the shimmery mini/apron/shorts Miwa wore when singing ‘It’s So Delicious’ on Wonderland ’95. The long trailing gown Miwa wore when she “flew” over the stage in the video was suspended from the ceiling. Numerous awards and gold and platinum records were displayed on the walls and on stands and shelves. The “comfortable couch” in front of the video screen WAS quite comfortable (the ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Jet’ videos were playing along with a brief message from Miwa and Masa. Miwa’s library had some interesting selections that my wife made note of. The gift shop was small, and only had a few items (‘The Love Rocks’ items were displayed, but only available at the concerts). I did get a nice DCT garden IKEDA t-shirt, though.


Our trip to Ikeda left my wife and I feeling sort of strange- not disappointed, but rather dismayed. Much of the town had a rundown or even abandoned look about it. Not exactly what we expected from Miwa’s descriptions, but we realized that many people develop and keep a sort of idealized image of where they grew up. If you lived there, it’s probably important to you in some way.

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Jei
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Post by Jei » Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:16 am

Thanks so much for sharing those photo, nogi!
'Twas like walking in Miwa's footsteps :)
-Jay
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http://www.dctjoy.com/

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tachikaze
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Post by tachikaze » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:57 am

Japan is depopulating at such a horrific rate that this will be a common sight in the countryside

I made a population pyramid of Japan, contrasting 2006 with 2021:

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/6420 ... 021lq5.png

(the faded out colors are the population today that will not exist in 2021, the solid colors are added population).

I guess the major urban areas will remain crowded, but the inaka is, from what I've heard, is in the midst of depopulating (when I was in country I spent 99% of my time within the Yamanote, only taking sidetrips to Sendai, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Izu).

In 2021 there will be HALF the number of kids 0-10 that there were in 1991, but given the demographics (more young parents living in the city) this will be more like an 80% decline for the inaka.

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nogizaka
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Post by nogizaka » Sat Sep 30, 2006 9:48 pm

Miwa talks in the magazine article about a "mass exodus" from Ikeda in the seventies and eighties due to its' declining economy (Ikeda was once a major hub in the Hokkaido rail network, but that changed with increased rail construction after WWII), which has been only partially offset by the introduction of wine production.

It sure was quiet there, tachikaze.

I just read an article in Japan Close-Up about Life in a Declining Population (January 2006), and your post really hit home. There is so much fiction (and non-fiction) on the horrors of overpopulation and very little devoted to the "horrific" results of a population decline.

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James
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Post by James » Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:29 pm

Great photos! Cheers for sharing that with us! :D

nakoruru
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Post by nakoruru » Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:58 am

Well, I guess it sort of fits this thread here. I found this picture on Yahoo Japan Auctions:

Image

It's a elementary school picture. Miwa is the third from the left. Wasn't she the cutest kid ever? :)

Image

^ It's from this book here.

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nogizaka
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Post by nogizaka » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:34 am

Already the most photogenic, certainly.

I'll have to look for that book when I go to Japan (less than two months to go!).

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nogizaka
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Post by nogizaka » Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:37 pm

We found the book, but not for sale- only on file in the Diet Library in Tokyo (my wife needed to do some research while we were on vacation). She was able to check it out for us to look at (nothing can leave the library but photocopies). It seemed to be a standard "official biography"- lots of tidbits of information, but nothing revealing. The time line of the book went up to the Virgin Records contract and the U.S. release of 'Sing or Die'. There was very little explanation about the label change, besides the fact that their contract with Sony was about to expire- nothing about Sony not wanting to market them in America or any indication of disagreement. A standard "official biography", in other words.

The pre-DCT information was interesting, but mostly what we've heard before. There were a few more pictures of Miwa from middle and high school, which didn't come out when we tried to photocopy them.

Finding the book (in any form) and actually looking through it was fun, but I wish someone would write something more detailed about DCT. It appears, however, that their private lives are just that.

Sorry that it's taking me so long to post this information (more to come), but my computer wasn't feeling so well, and for a long time, neither was my schedule. Both are doing better now.

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