The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes will finally arrive at the cinema on June 10, 11 and 12 thanks to Anime Factory, bringing the mystery of the Urashima tunnel to the big screen.
According to legends, those who pass through this mysterious portal can have their wish granted if they are willing to pay the price. In fact, every second, minute and hour spent in the tunnel corresponds to hours, days and years spent in the real world. Kaoru and Anzu, the two protagonists of the story, will therefore have to understand how far to go to achieve their goals. Does it really make sense to sacrifice the best years of your life to follow a dream? Doesn’t depriving yourself of the journey to “easily” reach your destination risk being limiting? Personal questions that do not have a single answer and which, for this very reason, are extremely stimulating.
In the film, the Urashima tunnel it is a real portal with a great symbolic meaning that has its roots in mythology… and also shows a certain affinity with some Japanese locations.
The origin of the Urashima Tunnel
The Urashima tunnel is an imaginary place that takes inspiration from Japanese folklore, that is, from the legend of Urashima Taro, a young fisherman who, after saving a turtle, was hosted by Princess Otohime in the Dragon Palace on the bottom of the sea. On the Tango Peninsula, north of Kyoto Prefecture near Ine, a fishing village suspended in time and surrounded by both lush vegetation and the sea, there is a sanctuary called “Urashima Jinja”. Inside the sanctuary there is an ancient document that describes a man, Urashimako, who “left his land to visit a place where people never age”. He returned 350 years later with a precious and mysterious box… An evocative tale that clearly served as inspiration for The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes.
The Kyotaki Tunnel
It’s clear that the Japanese must have a particular thing for supernatural tunnels and the symbolism they contain. Proof of this is the Kiyotaki tunnel, present in Kansai prefecture and now famous throughout the world. To build this structure, dozens of underpaid workers worked in 1927 and were forced to work crazy shifts to complete the job. This led many of them to their deaths, giving rise to the belief that the souls of the deceased still haunt the tunnel and appear to motorists to push them off the road. As if that wasn’t enough, in the tunnel there is a classic mirror used in the presence of too tight curves. According to legend, if you look in the mirror and see a ghost sitting next to you in the car, it is very likely that your death is imminent…
The Kiyotaki tunnel has also become famous for its particular length: 444 metres. “4” in Japan is considered a number of misfortune, a bit like 17 or 13 in other parts of the world. This has contributed to the fame of a place which, in recent years, has attracted not only the most curious, but also many people intending to take their own lives. Over time this place took the name of the “Screaming Tunnel”, as many people claim to have often heard screams coming from the tunnel. Of course, a very different location from that tunnel seen in The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyesbut no less fascinating.
The Wisteria Tunnel
We completely change the atmosphere and fly to Kawachi Fuji Garden, in Fukuoka prefecture. Here too we find an incredible tunnel with highly symbolic value. We’re talking about Wisteria Tunnel, a wisteria arch almost 100 meters long, made with 20 different species of plants. It’s about a purple passage capable of leaving anyone who decides to cross it speechless.
A piece of useful information for all those who want to visit this wonder: although the garden is always open, our advice is to visit it from mid-April to the end of May, or at the end of November. This is because these are the two periods in which the Wisteria Tunnel blossoms in all its beauty. In particular, you shouldn’t miss the “Fuji Matsuri”, an incredible event that brings thousands of people to explore this magnificent place for a month of celebration and activity.
In the language of flowers, wisteria represents friendship, loyalty and trust towards others. And one of the most important themes of The Tunnel to Summer, The Exit of Goodbyes it’s really love.
In short, in Japan there are some very suggestive tunnels rich in symbolism. But to see the Urashima tunnel and discover its mysteries you will have to go to the cinema on June 10, 11 or 12, and see Tomohisa Taguchi’s new film!
Article in collaboration with Plaion Pictures
