Years ago, I saw an ad in a Japanese magazine that depicted a couple enjoying a refreshing, sumptuous lunch on a wooden platform built over a resplendent yet gentle waterfall in the midst of spring.  I think it was a sake ad.  I salivated over the memory of this magical image, and asked a Japanese friend where I could find something like it.

“That was just an advertisement,” she said, smiling.  “There is no place like that.”

Recently, while watching an NHK nature/food/culture documentary (the kind with a tranquil English speaker’s voice and Ryuichi Sakamoto playing contemplative, tender piano), I caught a two-second glimpse of something resembling the ad, and the words “Kibune kawa-something.”

“It EXISTS!!!”  I ran to my desk for a pen and paper.

The sake advertisement had depicted a gloriously Photoshopped version ofkawadoko, a summertime dining treat made famous in the Kyoto area (and particularly in the mountain village of Kibune).  Folks seeking escape from the heat and humidity enjoykaiseki-ryōri and coldnagashi-sōmen on a deck over a rushing mountain stream.

そこに行きましょう!