Niigata

Niigata is the mainland departure point for the ferry journey to Sado Island. In Lucy Fly’s account, it marks a threshold: the road through the hills and mountains gives way to the sea, and the group’s holiday excitement meets the ominous associations of the island ahead.

Setting and Approach

The route to Niigata follows a changing landscape: hills give way to steep mountains before the travelers reach the port. There, Lucy Fly, Teiji, and Lily board a ferry. The location is presented not through an extended description of the town but as the point where their overland movement ends and the crossing begins.

The Ferry Crossing

The ferry journey takes more than an hour across a calm sea. In late afternoon, it arrives at Ryotsu, the fishing town where the travelers disembark. Niigata thus stands at one end of a passage from mainland Japan to Sado Island, with the crossing itself separating the mountainous approach from the island’s dark, rugged setting.

Narrative Significance

The departure from Niigata carries a double emotional charge. Lucy Fly is deliriously happy as the travelers find a place on deck to watch mainland Japan disappear, yet she describes their destination as a storm-beaten land of exiles and bad fortune. The contrast makes Niigata a literal and narrative threshold: their shared holiday advances toward a place already shadowed by foreboding.