What do readers imagine when they hear the name Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture?
Published May 19, 2024 by J-Town (see the original article here)
A port facing the Sea of Japan? It has certainly flourished as a port town for a very long time. It is said that in the early modern period, the area was bustling with trade by Kitamaebune ships. You may have recently heard the news that the Hokuriku Shinkansen has been extended to Tsuruga. With the opening of the Kanazawa-Tsuruga section, it is now possible to travel from Tokyo to Tsuruga without changing trains, and the fastest travel time is now 3 hours and 8 minutes.
In the city of Tsuruga, a monument to Galaxy Express 999 has recently been attracting attention on social media. And it’s not just one or two, but apparently more than a dozen related monuments have been set up. What on earth is this all about? A J-Town Net reporter spoke to the Tsuruga Tourism Association for more details.
The site was once on the route of an international train that went to Paris!
According to the Tsuruga Tourism Association, a total of 28 monuments have been set up in Symbol Road, Tsuruga’s central shopping street, 16 from manga artist Leiji Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999 and 12 from Space Battleship Yamato. This is because Tsuruga is a city of railroads and ports.
“To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Tsuruga Port in 1999, we set up monuments for Galaxy Express 999 and Space Battleship Yamato to superimpose Tsuruga’s image of ‘Railway (Station),’ ‘Port,’ and ‘Science City’ with our vision of the future.”
(Tsuruga Tourism Association representative)
The purpose of setting up the monuments is to let more people know about Tsuruga’s history. For example, Tsuruga is a city that has grown alongside ports and railways.
“Tsuruga Port has played an important role as a gateway to the continent. As a result, in 1869 it was decided to build a railway between Kyoto and Tsuruga as one of the four first railway lines in Japan. In 1882, the first railway line on the Sea of Japan side was laid in Tsuruga.”
“In 1912, the Europe-Asia International Express started operating, a direct train ran between Shinbashi (Tokyo) and Kanagasaki (Tsuruga), and a ferry from Tsuruga Port to Vladivostok (Russia). From there, the Siberia Railway to Paris (France) was established.”
“Furthermore, in 1957, Japan’s first full-scale AC electrification was completed, and in 1962 the Hokuriku Tunnel, the fifth longest in the world at the time, was opened.”
(Tsuruga Tourism Association Representative)
Tsuruga has continued to function as a transportation hub. I could imagine its importance as a port town, but I was surprised to learn how closely connected it was to the railway. In particular, the ferry between Tsuruga and Vladivostok served as the route for the “Europe-Asia International Express Train” that runs to Paris on the Siberia Railway.
Since the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in Tsuruga, the number of foreign tourists visiting Tsuruga Symbol Road has increased. Could this be a factor?
A representative of the Tsuruga Tourism Association commented, “We are seeing an increase in tourists putting offerings into the bowl on the Dr. Sado monument to Space Battleship Yamato, which is located in front of Tsuruga Station, and it has become a rare phenomenon. 25 years have passed since the monument was installed, and we are very happy that more people have the opportunity to see it in this way. Please come to Tsuruga to see the monument.”
There is apparently one monument that plays the famous song from that anime. It will be fun to look for it.
