While killing time, I was casually driving toward the Niigata area when I came across a vast lawn that reminded me of the rice fields typical of Niigata. I casually stopped the car and went into the facility, and to my surprise, I was greeted by the lively figures of 'Tripitaka and his companions'!
Overcome with emotion, I skipped around them and kept taking their pictures?it was a huge commotion. After all, they were my heroes from childhood. To think I could encounter them in a place like this!　(Nihedon @ KesaranPasaran Lab)

When I was in elementary school, Kakuei Tanaka became Prime Minister with the catchphrase 'I only graduated from elementary school.' And with his habitual phrase 'Alright, alright,' he carried out an ambitious reform called the 'Remodeling of the Japanese Archipelago.'

In his later years, Tanaka became infamous as a key figure in the notorious 'Lockheed scandal,' turning into a villain in the public eye. Yet, immediately after taking office, his approval rating was quite high even among people who did not support the Liberal Democratic Party, and even we elementary school kids at the time treated him like a 'modern-day Toyotomi Hideyoshi.'

One of Tanaka's significant achievements was the 'Normalization of Diplomatic Relations with China,' shown in the photo above. He restored diplomatic relations with China, which had been severed since the war. At the elementary school I attended back then, classes were interrupted so that we could watch Tanaka shaking hands with Premier Zhou Enlai on television.

To commemorate the restoration of diplomatic relations, pandas 'Ling Ling' and 'Kang Kang' were sent to Ueno Zoo, sparking an unprecedented panda boom during this period.

Moreover, this very place, Niigata, is the birthplace of Kakuei Tanaka. That is why the members of the Saiyuki group were all gathered in Niigata.