16

A northern station of the Toden Arakawa line – one of the last of the chin-chin (ding-ding) streetcars – is Ōji-eki-mae Station right next to where I am presently staying. In 2005 I lived in Higashi-Nippori next to the Minowabashi Station, the southern terminus of the line. A trolley that goes “ding-ding” connects my worlds of past and present not entirely dissimilar to the American television children's show host Mr. Rogers’ trolley; however, the Toden Arakawa line doesn't connect the world of Mr. Roger's living room through a mysterious tunnel with an imaginary land notable for its puppets and actual puppet monarchy, but connects two physical locations that are coincidental with my past and present. Also, the Toden Arakawa doesn't operate with the accompaniment of Mr. Rogers’ trolley's somewhat maniacal theme song. When I was a child the cycling "chugging along" relentlessness of Mr. Roger's trolley's song's rhythm always triggered a vague awareness of the inevitable forward movement of time. The Toden Arakawa doesn't have this precise effect on me, rather when I am on the Toden Arakawa I always think about Mr. Roger's trolley, how much I liked the soothing nature of the program, what a long time ago that was, and so in an elliptical manner it has the same effect, but minus the musical accompaniment. Aside from that and the evident absence of puppets on the Toden Arakawa the two trolleys seem to be more or less the same.