To me, the Arakawa River is special and one of a kind.

It provided a backdrop for Happiness on the Right, my first-ever short story to be made into an MV. I remember how at first we went about scouting for a suitable filming location in Tokyo, where there is the sort of vast river bank complete with a huge green pasture we see in Japanese TV sitcoms. It was only with much difficulty that we finally found the Arakawa River in suburban Tokyo.

On my first visit to the place, the sky was blue, the grass was green, and the sun was shining brightly. There was not a soul around, except for a few neighbourhood kids playing rolling on the grass slope. When filming began two weeks thereafter, the rainy season had already set in, and soft-grey clouds hung low above your eyebrows. The riverside pasture, which had been turned into a baseball field, bubbled with life with the runners, cyclists and people walking their dogs. But whatever state the place was in, it was the apple of my eye.

In the city where we live, there is no such space completely at the disposal of its citizens. Mock green spaces and waterfront promenades, however nicely the latter are decked out, are no match for a river bank so wild and lively.

Walking in Taipei lately I lighted upon a comic book entitled Arakawa under the Bridge. It is a story about a boy accidentally finding himself amid a group of eccentrics living by the Arakawa River, just the backdrop I like which brings back an endless stream of fond memories.

By Yi-hing Ong

*Translation from Chinese article.