A story about wanting to go to the moon because I heard there's a villa there

Hello everyone. The punchline is already in the title this time, but even if I can't call it a travelogue, I'd like to write something like a short diary.
(Wait, isn't that what note is supposed to be?I don't know, though)

First of all, what does the title mean?

Please listen to this first.

The source of the title is the line "I have a villa on the moon!" in the second verse of the song.
I intentionally didn't set a start time because I want you to listen from the beginning.
I think it's on various subscription services, so please check it out (it's on Spotify).

So, where is the moon?

Of course, it's not the Earth's satellite.(Major premise)
I occasionally see signs on the internet that say "3km to the Moon," and there is also a book called "3km to the Moon." (The book is also said to be based on the aforementioned sign.)

This "3km to the Moon" sign apparently indicates the distance to a settlement (?) called "Tsuki" (Moon) in Tenryu-ku, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.
I suppose there must be a villa there. (Huh?)

I thought this was a distance I could easily go and return from, so I decided to go for a drive. I also happened to want to go to the Hamamatsu area.
And I used up precious paid leave to do it
(I have a health checkup the next day, and I'm participating in the Fedilug study group the day after that...)

Besides the moon...

While looking up where the place name "Tsuki" is, I found out that the Funagira Dam (Electric Power Development Co., Ltd.) is nearby. Since I was in the area, I decided to go take pictures of the dam and get a dam card.

It's apparently read as "Funagira." You wouldn't be able to read it without local knowledge. (I couldn't either.)

Of course, taking a picture of the "3km to the Moon" sign was also a goal.
Whether I actually go to the moon is another story...

Let's go.

I traveled most of the way to Hamamatsu on National Route 1. Along the way, I encountered a mysterious traffic jam near the Fujieda Bypass and was able to see the remains of the Schindler Elevator test tower in Fukuroi (currently owned by a logistics company called Tsukasa Kigyo, and you can faintly read the remains of the "Schindler Elevator" sign).

I entered the mountains nicely from Hamamatsu City and arrived at the Funagira Dam first.
Note that the management office does not have a parking lot for visitors, so it seems you have to park at the nearby sports park parking lot.

And here I realized I had made a mistake. I forgot the stand for taking pictures of my acrylic stand.
You might think I should just hold it with my hand, but it's easier to have one...
Maybe I don't need to take pictures of the acrylic stand at all?

The dam card is not distributed at the management office, but at the Roadside Station Tenryu Aizu Hanamomo no Sato, which is a little further upstream, so I decided to take a picture of the "3km to the Moon" sign on the way.
There is a tunnel when you go upstream, but if you turn left before the tunnel and enter Prefectural Road 380, you can go to Tsuki.

Since I'm already here...

I could have gone to the Roadside Station Tenryu Aitsu Hanamomo no Sato here and then headed back to Hamamatsu city, but looking at the information boards, I saw that the Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. Akiba Dam was nearby, so I decided to stop by as well.
However, I misunderstood and went to Akiba Dam first, so I ended up wasting time by turning back and climbing up again.
And having an intersection inside a tunnel... there's no way to know that on a first visit...

There is a parking lot near the Akiba Dam management office where you can park your car. Also, if you go a little further downstream, there is a suspension bridge.

Here too, you don't get the dam card at the management office, but rather at a hot spring facility a little ways away. I didn't bring a change of clothes and it felt a bit strange to just go there for a dam card, but they were very kind about it.

I returned to the Roadside Station Tenryu Aitsu Hanamomo no Sato, which I had left unfinished (?), and since it was a good time, I decided to have lunch while I was at it.

I bought a few crafts at the shop and was able to get the dam card as well. They didn't ask for any photos or anything like that.

Actually, it's not over yet

I had achieved my original goal, so I could have gone home, but since I heard there was a Sakuma Dam nearby, I thought I might as well stop by since I had come this far.
Sakuma Dam is even further upstream than Akiba Dam, and although there were some narrow roads and steep slopes along the way, I managed to arrive.

The Sakuma Power Museum is adjacent to Sakuma Dam, and besides distributing dam cards, you can also learn about the construction of Sakuma Dam, hydroelectric power generation, and electricity. You can also easily experience the difference in power frequencies between eastern and western Japan.
(As an aside, there is a frequency converter station near the Sakuma Hydroelectric Power Station)

Also, there is an observation deck at the exit of the Power Museum, from which you can overlook Sakuma Dam.

There is also a plaza and parking lot on the lower side, and you can see it from there as well.

Besides that, I thought I would also go to the Shin-Toyone Dam, which is connected to Sakuma Dam by a waterway tunnel.What happened to the moon?

An outrageous detour

Looking at the map, it doesn't look that far away, but since Prefectural Road 429, which is the shortest route, is closed due to a landslide, I was forced to take a detour of about 30 km.
It seems that the closure of Prefectural Road 429 has been in effect for several years, and when I looked it up, it seems there are brave souls who have headed there on foot part of the way.

After winding through mountain roads and passing through a narrow, terrifying tunnel, I arrived at the Shin-Toyone Dam, a massive arch dam.

Perhaps because Shin-Toyone Dam is managed by both the Electric Power Development Co. and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the dam card distribution follows the Ministry's style—meaning it's handed over directly at the management office. Let's make sure to fill out the survey, too.

Having achieved my goal, I decided it was finally time to head home, but as expected, it ended up being a detour. The narrow tunnel was still there, too.
I felt a mysterious sense of relief when I finally cleared the mountainous area and entered the San-En Nanshin Expressway.
I made it to the Hamamatsu Inasa Interchange, entered downtown Hamamatsu, and decided to have dinner. And no, it wasn't gyoza—it was Joyfull.

The trip back was mostly via the National Route 1 bypass, and I arrived home around the time the date changed.

So, in the end...

I didn't go to the moon
The reason is that if I had gone to the moon, it would have been a detour on the way back.
It seems there is a boat racing venue and a monument explaining the origin of the name in Tsuki, but I skipped it this time.
Also, it seems there is a similar small sign that says "3km to the moon" in the opposite direction.

Since I was there, here are the crafts I bought at the roadside station.

Since it turned into a dam trip halfway through, here is the dam card.

Aside (you don't have to read this)

The original song is "Nijiiro Lumiere," but there is a discount store called "Lumiere" that operates only within Fukuoka Prefecture.

I can't go there anymore since I left Fukuoka, but I used to stop by quite often because it was in a convenient location.
I wonder if a day will ever come... when "Nijiiro Lumiere" plays as the in-store background music at Lumiere?

This time, the content was a bit unclear—whether it was a joke, a travelogue, or neither—but it was an interesting event, so I decided to write an article about it.
I'll see you in the next article.