Hachiro Kasuga -- Kosame no Eki ni Bell ga Naru（小雨の駅にベルが鳴る）

The photo above is of Ito Station in Shizuoka Prefecture when my friend and I stayed in the small city of Ito for that one night four years ago. Of course, being a local transportation hub, the surrounding area had its share of shops, cafes and restaurants, and the ocean wasn't too far away either.

Furthermore, alongside airports, it seems like the train station was also the place where romances went to sadly fade away in kayo kyoku. Case in point, Hachiro Kasuga's（春日八郎）"Kosame no Eki ni Bell ga Naru" (The Bell Tolls at the Station in a Light Rain). Well, perhaps I would rather translate that in a more concise way and go with "The Bell Tolls at the Rainy Station".

Originally released in 1954 as one of Kasuga's early singles, it describes the sweet but sorrowful parting of two lovers at the station. Although I couldn't find out whether the depot was based on a real place, I could imagine that it was probably far smaller than even Ito Station and the stationmaster still punched the tickets with that clacking metal set of pincers. That was still the case when I was living in Gunma Prefecture back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

While Kikutaro Takahashi（高橋掬太郎）was the one behind the bittersweet lyrics, Yoshi Eguchi's（江口夜詩）melody is still quite jaunty as if it were still describing some sort of hustle and bustle around the titular station despite the drama playing out between the man and woman. Perhaps one romantic relationship may be coming to an end (temporarily or permanently), but life still goes on regardless.

The video below has the original 1954 version while the one above, according to the YouTube description, contains a new version which was recorded in 1972 for his "Kasuga Hachiro no Deluxe San-shuu"（春日八郎デラックス３集...Hachiro Kasuga's Deluxe Collection 3）. I have to say that although the original obviously has that nostalgic quality, I really do like the new version since it really brings out Kasuga's voice in a rich way alongside those strings.