Amachan: Kuji and the Sanriku Coast

In Amachan, Haruko Amano rushes back to the small northern seaside town with her 16-year-old daughter Aki. Kitasanriku Station is Kuji Station in Iwate: for filming, a set was fixed over the Kuji sign outside, while interior scenes were shot on a set. Inside the fictional station sits a snack bar called Rias. The real Kuji was named as the setting for the fictional town of Kitasanriku.

Visitor guidance: Kuji Station is the real station used as the model; the Kuji area is the drama's filming region.

Sodegahama is the fishing hamlet where the Amano family lives and the ama, the women who dive for sea urchins and shellfish, work. The model is Kosode Coast in Kuji, which is noted for its dramatic rock formations and views. Kuji is known as the northern limit of the ama divers. Aki, a shy girl from Tokyo, announces she wants to be an ama, but she cannot catch a sea urchin on her own until episode 24. The village in the drama is split between a shore settlement and one on higher ground, as at the real Kosode.

Location precision: The drama's Sodegahama is fictional; the pin marks the Kosode district of Kuji that served as its model.

Visitor guidance: No railway runs to Kosode Coast; only a few local buses serve it, so check timetables.

In the story, Sodegahama Station is the stop right after Kitasanriku, close to the Amano home. No railway runs to the real Kosode Coast, so the station scenes were shot at Horinai Station in Fudai village, about 15 km south of Kosode in a straight line.

Visitor guidance: Horinai Station is in Fudai village, Iwate.

In episode 4, Aki meets Yui for the first time at Hatano Station, the stop nearest the Adachi family home. In the story it lies in a village, about an hour from Kitasanriku. The filming location was Tanohata Station in Tanohata village, about 50 minutes from Kuji, almost exactly as in the drama. The station returns later when Aki and Yui perform on a special train in support of the railroad.

Visitor guidance: Tanohata Station is in Tanohata village, about 50 minutes by train from Kuji Station.

Kitasanriku High School has a regular course and an underwater engineering course that teaches Nanbu diving, a traditional method. Aki falls for Koichi Taneichi, a third-year in that course, and decides to enrol too. In real life, Taneichi High School in Hirono has a marine development course that carries on Nanbu diving, and the diving practice scenes were shot there. Other school scenes were filmed at a school in Saitama.