[Episode 19: Blue, Crimson, and Black] Blue Sky. [Trailer]

This is the trailer for Episode 19, “Blue, Crimson and Black.” It covers the abandoned restaurant “Blue Sky,” beside a road in Takanezawa, Shioya District, Tochigi Prefecture.

The building has a distinctive exterior with a circular terrace, and appears to have operated from the 1970s until around 2000. When it was open, it is said to have been an eye-catching eatery along the road. Records on the exact opening year and management are scarce, and local residents’ memories and ruin-introduction sites are the main clues.

The trailer introduces the investigation at this restaurant. The main episode has two parts. It is badly aged, and the circular terrace and other parts appear at risk of collapse.

What to Watch For

Placing the trailer in the context of Shōwa-era roadside culture helps. Private cars spread rapidly in Japan during the high-growth era, and restaurants and drive-ins where people could eat and rest on a drive opened one after another along national and prefectural roads. A building with a circular terrace was likely a device to stand out from afar. This is a general description of roadside shops of the time, not documentation of this shop’s design intent.

Our Take

There was certainly an era when cars carrying families lined up in front of the shop on weekends and people ate at window seats. When many years have passed since it closed and only the building remains, the gap between the old bustle and the present silence evokes a particular feeling in viewers. In our view, Shōwa-era roadside culture will eventually vanish entirely. When the day comes that it is demolished, only photographs and memories will prove the shop existed. We believe there is meaning in leaving a record that says “a shop like this stood here.”