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== The warm story of a city that loves music and is loved by music: "Yokosuka is now booming"... Set in the movie currently showing, 'Father and My Never-Ending Song,' and the stage of 'famous songs'
(May 31, 2025; by Kazunori KOSEKI)
The movie 'The Endless Song of My Father and Me,' which has been released since May 23, tells a heartwarming story of the 'father,' played by Akira Terao, who battles Alzheimer's disease, and 'me,' played by Tori Matsuzaka.
It depicts the somewhat awkward yet warm relationship many people experience between fathers and sons. Throughout the film, 'song' is the central theme, gently and movingly enveloping the story.
It is said that the story is based on actual events that took place in the United Kingdom, but the setting chosen for the work is Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Yokosuka City is the largest city on the Miura Peninsula, with a population of about 370,000. Due to its geographical location at the entrance of Tokyo Bay, it was called a "town that opened to the world" starting from the arrival of the "Black Ships" in the Edo period, and it has a notable historical background of interaction with foreign countries.
Even after the war, it has been known as a "base town" due to the presence of U.S. Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force bases, and since the city has a culture of actively adopting new cultural elements, one characteristic is that there are many places in the city full of exotic atmosphere.
According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the foreign population in Yokosuka City has continued to increase since 1980, and is currently about 5,000 people. It is expected to continue to increase in the future, and foreign tourists are also growing, mainly in the city center and the uninhabited island of Sarushima.
-- Just like an American port town! 'Dobuita Street Shopping District'
The main filming location was the particularly distinctive 'Dobuita Street Shopping District' in Yokosuka City.
Dobuita Street, located just a short walk from Keikyu Shioiri Station, has many American-style buildings due to the influence of the nearby U.S. military base. English is also used on the signs, so just walking around makes you feel as if you have wandered into a port town on the west coast of the United States.
In the story, the restaurant where Satomi, played by Shiori Sato, and her husband Daniel, portrayed by Jun Soejima, work, and which also serves as a place of relaxation for the characters, is the restaurant "Alfred" located on Dobuita Street.
Dobuita Street has several restaurants, but this one is right in the middle of the street, giving off a nostalgic old American vibe. It also appears by its real name multiple times in the story.
Inside the restaurant, there is a bar counter that appeared in the story, as well as comfortable seating where you can relax and enjoy Yokosuka's specialties.
The famous 'Yokosuka Navy Curry,' 'Navy Burger,' and 'Cherry Cheesecake' are called the 'Three Major Delicacies of Yokosuka,' and it seems that the 'Yokosuka Plate,' which allows you to eat all three on one plate, is popular.
In a corner of Dobuita Street, there appeared a store that was featured as 'Mamiya Music Store,' where the Mamiya family of 'Father' and 'I' lived, as a set (in reality, there is no music store). Also, just off the street, there is Verny Park, which appears in an impressive scene and is actually a place where citizens can relax.
-- “The Chase Scene” was Filmed on Yokosuka Kaigan Street
The scene in which "Me" speeds along in the Mamiya Music Store car is memorable, and that scene was filmed on "Yokosuka Kaigan Street," a coastal road in Yokosuka City.
It is a scenic driving route that runs from National Route 16, which cuts through the city north to south, passes through the city center, goes in front of the ferry terminal, connects to Mabori-kaigan in the eastern part of the city, and extends all the way to Kannonzaki.
The scene where 'Me' carries 'Father' while running and singing, combined with nostalgic music, colors the work, creating a refreshing and special landscape.
Along Yokosuka Kaigan-dori, there is a park in a harbor that retains traces of the naval port, called 'Mikasa Park'.
A park representing Yokosuka, also selected as one of the '100 Historical Parks of Japan.' The battleship 'Mikasa' displayed in the harbor is a warship built at the Vickers shipyard in the UK, completed in 1902. It was immediately incorporated into the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War and served as the flagship.
Today, it can be toured internally as the 'Mikasa Memorial Ship.' Within the park, there is also a statue of Heihachiro Togo, who served as the commander of the Combined Fleet, allowing visitors to recall that era.
Also, from the pier at Mikasa Park, you can take a ferry to 'Sarushima,' and it only takes about 10 minutes.
This is the only 'natural island' in Tokyo Bay and is also known as the 'largest uninhabited island in Tokyo Bay.'
When you set foot on the island, it feels like a different world. You can see old brick walls and tunnels, as well as the smokestack of a power plant, creating an atmosphere that seems frozen in time. It became famously known as a possible model for Studio Ghibli's film 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky' (1986).
Additionally, in 'Kamen Rider,' it appears as the base of Shocker, making it known among fans as a 'sacred place.'
-- "The 'city of music,' which has been the stage for numerous famous songs.
And when it comes to songs about Yokosuka, what first comes to mind is Momoe Yamaguchi's famous song 'Yokosuka Story' (1976), known for the memorable phrase, 'Is this the end? Is this the end? Is it really the end?'
Also, when I was a child, I listened to Mizue Takada's 'Sonna Hiroshi ni Damasarete' (1983, lyrics and music by Keisuke Kuwata), and the word 'Yokosuka' that appears in it gave me a somehow adult-like feeling."
Such Yokosuka is also a 'city of music' where American-derived jazz is played.
On the streets of the aforementioned Dobuita Street shopping district, there are 'handprints' of Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki, the husband-and-wife duo who composed and wrote the lyrics for 'Minato no Yoko Yokohama Yokosuka' (1975) and the aforementioned 'Yokosuka Story,' as well as Masahiko Hino, known as a jazz trumpeter.
Actor Akira Terao, who stars in 'Father and My Never-Ending Song,' also played the role of a teacher in the drama 'Aogeba Tōtoshī' (2016, TBS), and the filming locations were in Yokosuka.
This school drama depicts high school students aiming for the "Koshien of wind music" and their teacher, and filming was done at Dobuita Street shopping district as well as the "Yokosuka Arts Theatre" along the street, used as a venue for the wind orchestra competition.
The large theater of the "Yokosuka Arts Theatre" has an interior designed like an opera house and is a gorgeous, full-scale concert hall. It was also used as a filming location for the movie 'Maestro!' (2015), in which Tori Matsuzaka starred as a violinist, and for the film 'Taiyō to Bolero' (2022).
In this work as well, the film is full of nostalgic American songs, and it can truly be said to be a movie where the 'city of music' shines.
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