I was excited watching the latest episode of Rakuen when Yukie Nakama paid a visit to a certain wonderful marina and bridge that I fell in love with after seeing it appear in so many dramas!!! Silly I know, but I just LOVE when I see it in the background of shows I'm watching!
Shows such as Dear Sister (with Nao Matsushita)
...and with Mirei Kiritani in Shinigami-Kun.
In is several episodes of Facemaker, (where we got to see both the Upper-Deck Area (up the stairs from the marina)...
Megumi and Nagai Masaru in Facemaker
I had no IDEA where this place was, if it was a set or an actual place you could visit...until Takane No Hana! I was looking through a folder of screen-captures I took with Chiba Yudai and Satomi Ishihara, and it was clear that they were at that same waterfront parkway, posing in front of a gazebo-lookout structure.
Looking closer, I noticed there was a freaking huge ferris wheel behind them. I had seen this Ferris wheel in dramas before, but it suddenly occurred to me: I bet I could locate that waterfront by FIRST identifying that Ferris Wheel!
Simply typing "Giant Ferris Wheel in Japan" into Google, I IMMEDIATELY learned that it was called DAIKANRANSHA and was in Pallette Town in Odaiba, Tokyo!!! I had a definite location at last!!!
RUNNING to Googlemaps, I typed in the ferris wheel location, and then, using the aerial view, INSTANTLY saw the Waterfront Parkway!!! ZOOMING down on it and checking it out, I discovered that my mystery waterpark was called "Mizu No Hiroba Park" and was indeed a public access park!!!
Here was the waterfront in all its' glory, and I immediately found that gazebo lookout that Satomi Ishihara and Chiba Yudai was in front of:
Googlemaps capture:
A 2020 appearance on the waterfront in Ano ko no Yume wo Mitan Desu with Marie Iitoyo and Kanta Sato
Shiro Demo Kuro Demo Nai Sekai de, Panda wa Warau sighting at night!
Using the stairs at the end of the path, I was even able to get onto the bridge where the guys were...
This is the Yume No Ohashi Bridge, and it ITSELF has appeared in a TON of dramas as well, some of which I've written about HERE!
I've REALLY gotta get on a plane actually VISIT some of these J-drama landmarks!!!
