Although the Canal Cruise offers many routes, most of them lead to Ohana, villa of the former lords of Yanagawa Castle.

Let’s continue our story from earlier. The water in the polluted canals eventually became so foul that people could not open their windows, given the swarms of flies and mosquitoes. This resulted in a plan to cover up the contaminated water by burying the canals and turning them into culverts. At that time, a city hall employee came to the mayor with a pitch: restoring the water of their youth to its once-pure glory. The mayor, who also grew up playing in the river, agreed, cancelling the 20 billion yen in federal funds he had struggled so hard to secure. City hall workers led the effort by holding face-to-face discussions with the residents, pleading their case again and again. The key to the residents’ hearts was, naturally, their formative memories of playing in the river as kids. Adults who remembered the cleaner, pristine Yanagawa of 10 years ago were the most supportive of this grand rebirth of the canals. If this initiative had been pitched to a generation raised on the dangers of the canals’ filth, it may not have come to fruition at all.