Mount Obuchi

Mount Obuchi is the hillside above Mizonofuchi that holds Asuna Watase’s favorite lookout: an outcrop with a view over the entire town. For Asuna, it is both a familiar destination after school and a refuge from the uncertainty she feels around other people. The place’s significance lies in that private use, as well as in the railway crossing that makes reaching it part of a consequential encounter.

The Lookout and Its Use

Partway up Mount Obuchi, the outcrop gives Asuna a broad view across Mizonofuchi. She regularly goes there after school to listen to Asuna’s Crystal Radio. Although she wants friends and longs to spend time with them, she does not know how to interact with them; at the lookout, she can be by herself without worrying about other people. Its solitude is not simply isolation imposed on her, but a comfort she has found in a place she can choose.

The Railway Route

The only way to reach Asuna’s spot is across a narrow iron railway bridge spanning a valley, with the river more than a dozen meters below. Trains pass only once every few hours, but Asuna still puts her ear to the rail to check before crossing. The bridge’s solid construction and her practiced caution make the route familiar rather than frightening to her. On one summer visit, however, she runs onto the bridge and suddenly slows to a stop: she has noticed that the usual birdsong and cicada noise are absent. The familiar approach to the lookout has become a warning that something is wrong.

A Place Recalled

Much later, as a train passes in front of her at a crossing, Asuna looks in the direction it came from and glances up at Mount Obuchi. She realizes she has not visited her favorite spot for quite some time, and then gasps. The moment returns the hillside to her attention without yet explaining what she has seen or remembered. Mount Obuchi thus remains tied to a particular younger self—the girl who sought the town’s view and the privacy of the outcrop—even as the changing railway suggests that Mizonofuchi itself may become less isolated.