[Newsletter] Tragic saga of the Kagawa Boat Gym

▶︎ Watch the new video → https://youtu.be/P9hhuO9Y1Hk

A bit of an unusual theme for this week's video – not a train or other transportation, but a close-up look at a controversial and tragic building: the (former) Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium.

First of all, I have to give thanks to the AI chatbot ChatGPT – that's where I learned about this building. (In a recent video diary I discussed how I don't use AI to write or edit or anything; I do sometimes run ideas by it for videos or info about train lines, which I then verify elsewhere.)

The original plan for my travels last week was to ride the JR Marine Liner train over the sea; stay in Takamatsu overnight and spend the next day exploring a train line on the Kotoden Railway; stay overnight again and take a ferry to Kōbe and go home to Ōsaka.

It was going to be three videos made from that one trip -- train, train, and ferry.

But when I looked at the schedule and calculated the time I'd need to edit, I realized I could only stay one night. So, I couldn't check out the Kotoden Railway after all. (Not this time anyway.)

So I looked around for something to do with my extra half-day in Takamatsu, since the ferry left in the afternoon. Not finding anything, I asked ChatGPT.

Among other non-useful suggestions, it said there was a boat-shaped building in the middle of a save-it-or-demolish-it controversy in town.

I looked it up, and it's true. The more I read online, the more interested I got. So, that's what this video is.

I had to find a bus from the main JR station to a little spot in town. Dominating the block is the gigantic, boat-shaped gymnasium building. A very striking and imposing and unique image, but closed to the public.

All the details are in the video, but for a quick overview: the building was abruptly closed in 2014 due to structural damage. The prefectural government wants to demolish it, but local citizens want to fix it up and preserve it.

The controversy is in the news at this very moment, and the fate of the building will probably be sealed one way or the other, soon. As of the making of this video though, it still might be saved. Possibly.

So I managed to see it at a critical time. I hope you get as absorbed into the story as I did. My job was fairly easy, as a video-maker, since the building is so picturesque from every angle and at every zoom level.

And to be honest, I'm glad my time in Takamatsu worked out this way. Exploring the Kotoden Railway would have been a slog, because it would have involved a lot of walking and wandering around in the intense August humidity. I still did that, at the gym building, but I was only outside for about 40 minutes.

I'll go back and check out that railway another time. For now, let me know – do you think this building should be saved? What would you do if you were the governor of Kagawa Prefecture?

▶ TRAVEL LOVERS, PARTNERS, AND MASTERS: Watch the extended 25-minute ad-free version, including the observation deck on top of Takamatsu Symbol Tower, the bus ride to the gym area, and the hour-long bus ride winding through the neighborhoods of Takamatsu back to the train station → https://patreon.com/posts/137517762

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Everywhere is worth exploring!

–Jeremy