Tunnel At The End Of The Light

[Doria Vilcan]

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Living in central Tokyo, it can sometimes be easy to forget that Japan is not just an endless metropolis full of bright lights, flashing neon signs and convenience stores. I for one am guilty of getting wrapped up in big city life. Having felt a yearning to get out into the countryside for a change of scenery, I decided to go on a mini adventure. My goal was a road trip to the Tunnel of Light, an art installation in Niigata Prefecture.

The Tunnel of Light is in Kiyotsu Gorge, a remote area in Tokamachi. With a rental car, travel companions and the finest road trip snacks that the convenience stores of Japan could provide, we hit the road. The journey took us through picturesque and beautiful scenery. For anyone deciding to follow in our tire tracks, here are the highlights.

Heading north through Tokyo and up into Saitama Prefecture, the flat rice fields suddenly gave way to a looming range of mountains on the horizon. While Saitama is much maligned as boring, the edge of the prefecture is in fact home to some spectacular scenery. Most notably, the Chichibu-Tama National Park which offers visitors some amazing hiking trails and spectacular views of Mount Fuji. However, my quest to find the Tunnel of Light took us north into Gunma Prefecture. The scenery shifted and suddenly we were driving through the mountains.

The place where we spent the night is a true treasure. Takaragawa Onsen is an old hot spring ryokan in a hidden river valley close to the ski resort of Minakami Kogen. They have several traditional ryokan-style rooms for guests, as well as an outdoor mixed rotenburo bath.

Granted, Takaragawa is not as much of a hidden gem as it once was. Numerous TV appearances have brought it a degree of national and international fame. There has been an increase in visitors as a result. However, the onsen resort is still a magical and unique place that is worth a visit. Every season offers a different experience, with the changing landscape around the hot spring.

From Takaragawa, it was a two-hour drive through the mountains and into Niigata Prefecture. We arrived at a parking area at the end of the road with a sheer drop beneath it, leading down to the river below. This is Kiyotsu Gorge, location of the famed Tunnel of Light.

A short walk along the riverside led us to an entrance of a tunnel drilled into the side of the mountain. This is the opening to the installation. The tunnels were originally dug for tourists to view the gorge safely following a deadly avalanche in the 1980s. However, by this time the popularity of the area had waned and the crowds had left in favor of some of the bigger and more easily accessible spa towns and resorts nearby. This left the tunnel all but deserted.

The exhibits that line the tunnel are true showstoppers. As you progress up the tunnel, there are several openings that reveal a different art installation, all set against the breathtaking backdrop of the gorge below.

Our road trip to the Tunnel of Light ended there, but the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial boasts more splendid art. So, you can stay a few days in the area and visit different spots. We are definitely thinking of going back again.

One summer, my husband and son biked the Great Allegheny Passage. Along the way they encountered Big Savage Tunnel, a two-thirds mile long repurposed railroad passage through a mountain. They biked through the eerie darkness guided by fluorescent lights affixed to the rocky ceiling at long intervals.

Pausing somewhere near the midpoint, they looked forward. Then they looked behind them. Other than the dim glow of the bulbs, there was no light, and no visible evidence of a beginning or end. In their heads, they knew they would reach the end eventually. But an uneasy feeling settled over them until they biked far enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

When the sunshine-filled arch penetrated the murky depths, they breathed a sigh of relief and pedaled with renewed vigor. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel relieved the minor fear of being stuck in the dark forever.

Years ago, a prophet of God named Isaiah found himself, along with his entire nation, in the middle of a pitch-black tunnel of awful circumstances. God tasked him with delivering a message of judgment to his countrymen. They had abandoned God and turned to worship idols. Ignoring His commands, they went their own way. In sin, they had dug their own tunnel, and God was going to send them into exile far from home.

I had an approaching boat wait at the mouth of a tunnel as he didn't know it was wide enough to pass. His led tunnel illumination system was still do bright from outside the tunnel to dazzle me and make it difficult to see where I was going. I did make it known to him that if he had entered the tunnel I would have had to stop due to his blinding light.

I have now started to keep a large LED work light at the back with me, if I really struggle, I direct it at the other boat and turn it on just before the boats meet.....usually to shouts and complaints as they lose their vision.

Some of us have deteriorated eye sight. In poor lighting conditions I cannot judge sideways distances as I have triple vision. Yes, I have 72 watts of LED tunnel lights. They point starboard and up. If there is another boat coming I can turn them off but its not easy to see then.

There is no regulation about tunnel lights except that you have to have one so unfortunately us selfish boaters with LED lights or the idiots with vintage searchlights or massive brass car headlights can do what the heck we want. Could I suggest you try what I do and use a pair of sunglasses on such an occasion that your eyes will not adjust correctly in bright light?

I have now started to keep a large LED work light at the back with me, if I really struggle, I direct it at the other boat and turn it on just before the boats meet.....usually to shoots and complaints as they lose their vision.

I tend to think that if I really can't see I should stop. If that means I've floated across and blocked the tunnel, and then they have to stop too, it's a handy time to discuss the problem. However those with absurdly bright lights must be crossing with similarly equipped boats, so how can they not know what the problem is?

Then you have the happy family groups sitting in their well deck wearing LED head torches, which is no problem until they simultaneously turn to look you in the eye and wish you a good day as the boats cross.

Depends upon the design. My car has 12v LED lights. They are miles ahead in design/complexity to any boat light I've seen. Mind you, a single headlight unit for the car will cost you the best part of 2K.

The stated aim of the Boat Safety Scheme is to make sure boats are safe, not for the occupants of that boat, but for others around them. So it would be entirely consistent for the BSS to specify the maximum power of tunnel lamps and the beam pattern. Any that are too bright and/or pointing in teh wrong direction would result in a BSS fail.

Travelers are greeted by our beautiful water feature, located in the center of McNamara Terminal. Inspired by the lines of a flight map, the 39 ft. wide fountain designed by WET Design of Burbank, CA, is an ideal meeting spot or lounge area. Make a wish and toss a penny! All coins are collected and donated to local and national nonprofits.

Connecting Concourses B/C with Concourse A at the McNamara Terminal building, Detroit Metropolitan Airport's underground Light Tunnel is an artistic display of sight and sound. This 700 ft. display features nearly 9,000 ft. of glass panels illuminated by LED lighting and is set to an original musical score.

**If the combination of light and sound is uncomfortable, passengers can suspend the program for a five-minute period by pressing the button at each end of the tunnel. The button is located to the right at the bottom of the escalators.

I took a deep breath and reconsidered my options. The most appealing choice for me would require us to backtrack several miles to the place we took the shot cut and then climb over a high mountain pass. As easy as that seemed, I couldn't deal with the ridicule from the twenty shoe-shiners I was leading if I turned back out of fear.

So it seemed once again that my pride had left me with only one option, which was to continue the course we had started. That meant venturing into the mine shaft that was in front of me. I stared into the horizontal tunnel and allowed my eyes to adjust to the dark. The perspective illusion made the tunnel appear to grow shorter and narrower as it entered the mountain, and it seemed that before long I would be on my hands and knees and eventually on my belly traversing the passage. I knew that wasn't actually the case, but my increasing anxiety, brought on by my acute claustrophobia, was difficutl to convince otherwise.

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