Every year, from January to May, when the water level of Lake Nukabira decreases, a crumbling structure resembling an ancient Roman aqueduct makes its appearance from beneath the reservoir’s surface: this is the Taushubetsu River Bridge, a lonesome “phantom bridge” doomed to be lost before long. Originally part of the now-discontinued Shihoro Line railway’s route, the bridge was built in 1939 across the Taushubetsu, a small tributary of the Otofuke River. The name means “birch-infested river” in the tongue of Ainu, the indigenous people living in northern Japan. In 1955,…
