{"id":5590,"date":"2026-04-13T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5590"},"modified":"2026-04-13T06:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:00:56","slug":"fading-tokyo-horikiri-station-the-arakawa-river-and-kinpachi-senseiwalking-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5590","title":{"rendered":"Fading Tokyo \u2013 Horikiri Station, the Arakawa River, and Kinpachi-sensei[Walking course]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mr. Sato heads to the neighborhood of a famous TV drama and finds a nostalgic taste of a youth he never had<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Welcome back to Fading Tokyo, in which our ace reporter Mr. Sato<\/strong> sets out to take one more, and possibly one last, look at train stations in Tokyo that are scheduled for renovation construction, which could end up permanently altering the look and feel of the surrounding neighborhood. Following his visit to Araiyakushi-mae Station on the western edge of downtown Tokyo<\/a>, today Mr. Sato is headed to the east side of the city, to Horikiri Station<\/strong> in Adachi Ward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Horikiri Station is a wooden building, a rarity for a rail stop in today\u2019s Tokyo. The station\u2019s name comes from the words horu<\/em> and kiru<\/em>, meaning \u201cdig\u201d and \u201ccut,\u201d which is appropriate because while the station sits next to the Arakawa River<\/strong>, the body of water used to be in a different place, and its current position is the result of a flood control canal that was dug out and opened in 1924. The Arakawa River now flows right over the spot where the station used to be, but for the past 102 years, Horikiri Station has been in its current location, although the exact construction date of the current building isn\u2019t known.<\/p>\n

\u25bc The Ryomo special limited express train passes by Horikiri Station on its way to\/from Gunma and Tochigi Prefectures to the north, and the contrast in size between the train and the building really drives home how long the station has been here.<\/p>\n

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Horikiri Station is also close to the canal that connects the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers, and right away Mr. Sato\u2019s eyes were drawn to the canal\u2019s gate, with its signal light for ships looking to move from one river to the other.<\/p>\n

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With train tracks, rivers, and roads all converging here, there\u2019s a complex array of stairways and overpasses for getting from one side of the cluster to the other. The planned renovations are meant to make the process easier and less confusing to navigate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The surrounding neighborhood is mostly a quiet residential area, but it has a major claim to fame in that it\u2019s the setting of Kinpachi-sensei, a landmark Japanese TV drama about a middle school teacher and his students that ran for eight seasons scattered between 1979 to 2011<\/strong>. Over the years, the series\u2019 plotline dealt with a variety of evolving social issues in a thoughtful, heartwarming manner, and so today Mr. Sato would be walking to the section of the Arakawa riverbank where the Kinpachi-sensei<\/em> opening sequence was filmed<\/strong>, with a bit of a detour toward Ushida Station<\/strong>, the next stop on the Tobu Skytree Line from Horikiri.<\/p>\n

\u25bc The first part of Mr. Sato\u2019s route<\/p>\n

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The cityscape was a mix of old and new as he walked, such as a playground tucked underneath an overpass, but with a fresh coat of paint on its swing set.<\/p>\n

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As for why Mr. Sato was headed this way instead of going directly to the riverbank, it was because he wanted to stop by Hinodeya<\/strong>, a local restaurant where the Kinpachi-sensei<\/em> cast and crew became periodic customers while filming the series. Unfortunately, it turned out that Mr. Sato had timed his arrival too early, and Hinodeya, which doesn\u2019t open until 11 a.m., wasn\u2019t receiving customers yet.<\/p>\n

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So it turned out Mr. Sato would be going to the river before lunch after all. Rerouting, he headed north from Hinodeya, going through and underpass so low that he almost had to duck his head to make it to the other side.<\/p>\n

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However, this change in plans turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it meant that stumbled upon a beautiful under-the-radar sakura spot, the cherry blossom tree-lined Ofumikiri-dori Street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u25bc The second part of Mr. Sato\u2019s route<\/p>\n

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Following the street to its eastern end puts you at the grassy riverbank<\/strong>, and after climbing the steps up to it, Mr. Sato was greeted with the nostalgic, liberating scenery that often waits for you at the edge of Japan\u2019s major river-bordered cities.<\/p>\n

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By the way, we mentioned earlier that Horikiri Station\u2019s old location is now underwater, right? It\u2019s about where the arrow is pointing in this photo.<\/p>\n

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Obviously, Mr. Sato had to recreate the Kinpachi-sensei<\/em> opening while he was here<\/strong>. Turning to look to the north, he spotted a white bridge in the distance that he recognized from the show, so he headed in that direction.<\/p>\n

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However, Mr. Sato didn\u2019t have the luxury of a full TV crew to set up his shot for him, so he had to estimate the angles, record himself, and then check the results afterwards.<\/p>\n

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The first take didn\u2019t go so well, and neither did the second.<\/p>\n

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But just like Kinpachi-sensei<\/em> encourages his students to always believe in themselves and never give up, so too did Mr. Sato keep trying, until he got it just right!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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He also snapped a photo with which to make his own title card for the still-in-production-in-his-mind TV drama Hidepachi-sensei<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u25bc Fun fact: Mr. Sato\u2019s first name is Hidenori.<\/p>\n

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OK, now it really<\/em> felt like a visit to Hinodeya was in order, and since the place was now open, Mr. Sato retraced his steps and returned to the restaurant.<\/p>\n

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Looking at the exterior of Hinodeya, you don\u2019t expect it to be anything fancy, and it\u2019s most definitely not.<\/p>\n

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What it is, though, is a fantastically authentic old-school casual Japanese local neighborhood eatery<\/strong>, with a menu filled with things like ramen, curry.. and fried rice. Quick, simple, hot meals\u2026and also filling, comforting, and nostalgic meals.<\/p>\n

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Mr. Sato was saved from the paralyzing dilemma of having to pick just one when he saw that Hinodeya offers a ramen and half-size curry rice combo<\/strong> for 1,100 yen (US$7.10).<\/p>\n

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The ramen was a thing of beauty to look at, with a visibly juicy hunk of chashu pork and even a swirly-patterned naruto fish cake, a classical touch that\u2019s becoming less common in newer ramen restaurants. The soy sauce-base broth had a touch of sweetness to it, and as Mr. Sato ate he could feel the soothing sensations of its flavor profile seeping into his body.<\/p>\n

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The curry rice, too, was a perfect embodiment of the sort of flavors you fall in love with as a kid, never tire of, and sometimes suddenly find yourself wanting to go back to. Hinodeya\u2019s take on the dish doesn\u2019t just feel like Japanese curry rice, it feels like Japanese diner curry rice, a sort of perfection born from simplicity.<\/p>\n

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Hinodeya\u2019s flavors are so evocative of the uncomplicated joys of youth that even though Mr. Sato had never been here before, for a brief moment he felt like as though he\u2019d grown up in this neighborhood, stopping by for a plate on a regular basis after walking along the river on his way home from middle school<\/strong>. So should you find yourself in the mood for some first-time-visit nostalgia too, you can still find it in this part of Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Photos \u00a9SoraNews24<\/em>
\n\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mr. Sato heads to the neighborhood of a famous TV drama and finds a nostalgic taste of a youth he never had. Welcome back to Fading Tokyo, in which our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}