TATEYAMA STATION (CHIBA PREFECTURE)

A little bit of Andalusia in south Chiba

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Kanji Tada

By Hajime Someya

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The stylish JR Tateyama Station building has been a landmark in Chiba Prefecture's southernmost city since it was renovated in 1999.

A straight path links the station to the beach, and ensures that a comfortable sea breeze often wafts through the station.

"It used to be nothing but a drab building," said Toshihide Katagiri, 52, who manages a music store in the neighborhood.

"In the summer we would watch trains slowly crawling to the station with beachgoers packed in like sardines. Still, this created poetic scenes," added Katagiri at his store, piled high with a variety of compact discs.

Sumiko Fukatsu, a jazz flutist, arrives at the station almost every week to stay at her second home by the sea.

"As soon as I set foot on the platform, the clock starts ticking more slowly," said Fukatsu, who bought a seaside house in 1995 as a place where she could concentrate on composing musical scores.

"Time shrinks and expands," said Fukatsu, referring to Einstein's theory of relativity.

She gave up her career as a classical musician in 1994, when she had a jazz epiphany during an event she took part in Winnipeg, Canada.

Fukatsu turned to jazz because she "wanted to communicate with people all over the world through my music."

In 2001, she released her first album, inspired by Tateyama's natural environment.

Her work, in a traditional jazz vein, somehow reflects her appreciation of the city's warm climate and wonderful sea breeze.

The Andalusian-style station building is crowned with an orange-tile roof, making a striking contrast with the clear blue sky.

The building has served as a model for many houses in the neighborhood.

"Before we embarked on the redevelopment project [in 1991], we asked local residents to build Andalusian-style houses," said a city spokesman.

"We couldn't afford any financial assistance, so we had to let residents make their own decisions. Fortunately, many people responded favorably to our call," he said.

Even a public lavatory by the beach is adorned with an Andalusian-style roof.

"Tateyama has a climate similar to that of many Spanish towns. Tateyama residents share many character attributes with Spaniards, too," said Takashi Ishii, 63.

"People here are openhearted, gentle and innocent," said Ishii, a painter who proposed redesigning the town in a Spanish style.

Ishii spends most of the year in the quiet village of Ferreirola, located in the Andalusian mountains, and the rest in Tateyama.

His pictures mirror the warm atmosphere of southern Spain--just like Tateyama.