Hadano, Tokyo｜City Walk to Restart Your Life!

If you could restart your life and live once more, what kind of life would you choose?

I spent five days in Tokyo, with very little to do each day, not knowing where to go. All the online travel guides were about check-in spots, and those internet-famous attractions were full of foreign tourists—every photo was just a sea of heads. After visiting a few places, I found it boring.

By chance, I discovered this off-the-beaten-path guide to checking in at the filming locations of the drama "Brushing Up Life." I had finished watching it last year when it first aired and thought it was pretty good. Plus, the train shot through the underpass was really beautiful, so I set aside a day to check it out.

This town is full of uphill and downhill streets, and constantly climbing up and down was quite tiring. Add to that Japan's summer temperature of 33°C, and it was really scorching. Fortunately, the town is filled with detached houses, and the streetscapes along the way were lovely—truly a small city perfect for a City Walk.

"Brushing Up Life" Drama Pilgrimage Guide:

Take the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku, Tokyo to Hadano Station (about 1 hour).

1. Exit Hadano Station South Exit (use the left staircase)

This is Mami's route to and from high school. There are several scenes from the drama at the staircase and exit.

2. Navigate to: 167-3 Ojiri

According to Google Maps, it's about a 10-minute walk from the station. Most of the drama's scenes were filmed around this underpass area. I suggest rewatching the drama quickly and taking screenshots, then slowly wander around here with those screenshots. You can check in at a dozen scenes—really a lot. I checked in at a few but got too lazy to find the rest. I mainly liked the train-underpass scene, so I waited for several trains and took both horizontal and vertical photos and videos, leaving no regrets.

3. 450-3 Ojiri Street

Mami's route to school (I didn't find this one).

4. Park, 338-86 Ojiri, Hadano, Kanagawa 257-0011 (Ojiri Tsurusakizaka Park)

Located in the residential area near Tsurumaki Bridge, this is the park where young Mami and friends exchanged stickers! I followed the navigation but couldn't find this park…

5. Next to Ojiri Tsurusakizaka Park

The corner at the exit of Kisakizaka Park is one of the scenes! Mami's house is also up above—you can compare with a drama screenshot to see it. (I didn't find this one from someone else's guide—you'll have to study it. I was also rather casual, so I just let it go.)

6. Long staircase: 1-9-11 Imaizumidai, Hadano City

You can find it using this address.

7. Muan Restaurant: Navigate to "Muan" (夢庵) to get there.

Muan: You can go directly through the underpass, but I first went to check in at the long staircase and then navigated to Muan. There were many people eating, and it was a bit expensive.

In the drama, Episode 5 shows Mami staying at this restaurant from morning till evening, eating a lot to rescue her classmate Reina from meeting the married scumbag pharmacist Miyaoka. She eventually waits until Reina arrives at the restaurant—but they still run into Miyaoka…

8. Hadano Interchange Store (秦野インター店)

Hadano Interchange Store is right across from Muan Restaurant. After eating at Muan, you can see it at the intersection! This store appears in Episode 7 when they rescue their teacher "Sanda Daikong" by stalling for time and chatting about whether Tano and Fukuda should divorce.

Summary: It was extremely hot and sunny—I couldn't take it. Being outside in full sunlight for street photography was exhausting! At first, I was excited to take photos and check in, but after the underpass and the long staircase, I basically just wanted to find some shade or an air-conditioned place to lie down.

Looking down at the mountain town from the slope, I happened to see an Odakyu Line train passing by and managed to capture it—that made me happy.

This was shot on September 2nd. The day before, there was a typhoon and heavy rain. That morning, when I woke up and opened the hotel window, I saw the sun was out. I checked Google Maps to see if the Odakyu Line had resumed operations (it had been suspended for a few days due to the typhoon). Finding that there was a train, I got up, packed, left the hotel around 9, transferred to the Odakyu Line at Shinjuku Station, and arrived at Hadano Station at exactly 12:06 PM—the hottest time of the day. But that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for photography.

I held an umbrella in one hand and a camera in the other, constantly taking out my phone to check the navigation and compare with the drama scenes—it was still very tiring.

After exiting Hadano Station and walking toward the underpass, I passed this railway crossing. I thought it looked beautiful and took many photos of trains (to be precise, JR trains).

I waited at the underpass for more than 20 minutes, trying to find the perfect angle. Then a train suddenly passed by and I missed the shot—I was so annoyed and waited for the next one…

On a weekday daytime, with the scorching sun, there was no one competing for the shot. I could take random photos on the street with nobody in them.

A small park on the hillside—I didn't find the park from the drama, but I did find many other small parks, all quite pretty. One of the swings in this park was damaged.

Right here, I stopped to change lenses and got bitten several times by mosquitoes. That scared me and I quickly left—no matter the country, places with lots of trees have tons of mosquitoes.

Japanese roads are full of manhole covers—one road can have many covers…

On the way to find the long staircase, I discovered another long staircase. This staircase was also beautiful, so I took many photos. The long staircase from the drama is one that many people have checked in at, but this one I found on my own—different from others. I like photos that are different.

This staircase had only two long flights, which was already quite high. But the long staircase in the drama actually has six long flights!!! Climbing up takes serious courage, because after taking photos, you still have to climb back down… Being a strong-willed Chinese person, I had to check in!

Finally, some personal reflections:

Many tourist attractions in big cities like Tokyo have so many people taking photos every day that it's really hard to capture a unique beautiful shot. Even if you post it, you won't get much traffic or likes because too many people have posted similar photos. Instead, going to some unexplored places and wandering around randomly might bring unexpected rewards.

Original text and photos. Do not reproduce without permission.