SHIMONADA STATION (IYO, EHIME PREFECTURE)

Setting sun marks new dawn for forgotten stop

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Norikazu Tateishi

By Kazuhiro Katayama

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

From the platform of JR Shimonada Station in Iyo, Ehime Prefecture, you can see the sea from wherever you look.

On a misty spring day, the dim shape of the islands of the Seto Inland Sea float on the horizon. The setting sun bathes the shores of the sea, the station and the mountains in red.

Every September, with the sunset as a backdrop, a musical performance called the Sunset Platform Concert is held. Several hundred people gather at the station to enjoy the concert, which is performed on a stage set on the small platform to the delight of passengers on trains going by.

The concert was started by Shinichi Wakamatsu, 60, when he was an employee of the Futamicho municipal government in the prefecture.

Rail used to be an important means of transport for the town, which is nestled between mountains and the sea.

But with the increase in car use, the station became less used and eventually unmanned in 1986. Wakamatsu feared the station, where the limited express does not stop at, would become obsolete if nobody did anything.

Wakamatsu thought there would be no choice other than creating events that involved the station to keep it alive, as it seemed impossible to increase actual passenger use of the station.

When he planned a sunset concert at the station, many people opposed the idea, saying that no one would attend or that it was ridiculous to try to sell people on something that implies negativity, like the metaphor of a setting sun. But the first concert attracted more than 1,000 people.

Backed by success, Wakamatsu organized various events using the slogan "the greatest sunset in Japan" with the aim of revitalizing the local economy.

"It was sad when I was young that I had nothing to talk about regarding my town when I met people from outside the prefecture," Wakamatsu said. "I wanted to make the town famous for having the best something in Japan, whatever it was."

The Futami Seaside Park, established 10 years ago in the city as a tourist spot for sunset watching, attracts 550,000 visitors a year.

Visitors to resorts usually thin out as evening sets in. But this park attracts more as darkness approaches.

The name of Futamicho disappeared in April when the town merged with the city of Iyo. Wakamatsu, who served as the town's school superintendent, also retired from his official job.

The concert at the station will mark its 20th anniversary this autumn.