Otsu, Japan
| Otsu, Japan | |
|---|---|
 Otsu burns. | |
| Language(s) Spoken: | Japanese |
Otsu (大津市 Ōtsu-shi) is a small village in Japan. It is located about five miles from Kyoto, and is considered a central and strategic location in Japan. The village is quite near Osaka, the birthplace of Hiro Nakamura, and both are in the Kansai or Kinki region of Japan.
According to legend, the hero Takezo Kensei defended the village from bandits and, in so doing, fell in love with the daughter of the village's swordsmith. In 1671, Hiro Nakamura inadvertently prevents Kensei from defeating the bandits, and the village is razed. (Four Months Later...)
Notable Residents
Notable Visitors
About
How to Stop an Exploding Man
After being thrown by Sylar's telekinesis, Hiro quickly teleports before crashing into the building behind him. He finds himself outside Kyoto, Japan in 1671. Hiro hears the sound of a few Japanese soldiers, readying their bow and arrows and preparing to attack. He starts to run from the soldiers, but stops after he sees his hero arrive from over a nearby hill. The two sides begin to battle but are frozen in awe as a solar eclipse occurs above their heads.
Four Months Later...
Hiro lands in a grassy meadow. As he looks around , he spots a group of Japanese archers raising their bows toward him — he turns to run, but realizes that it is Takezo Kensei, poised behind Hiro, that they are about to attack. After an eclipse occurs overhead, Hiro sees the arrows fired and stops time before they hit him. After moving out of the way, he sees his hero almost hit by arrows as well. He puts his hand on the horse of the rider and teleports them both to safety.
Hiro and Kensei teleport to a field, where the horse bucks and throws Kensei to the ground. After exclaiming, Hiro finds a sword drawn on him. Kensei asks how it happened, and remarks that fifty ryo is not worth dying for. As he runs away, he tells Hiro that he can tell Takezo Kensei that he can keep is money, dropping his sword. As Hiro wonders who the real Kensei is since the fake Kensei is running away, a man in armor with a crossbow comes around Hiro's back and asks how he made the Japanese soldiers scatter. He remarks that if he put an arrow through the leader's heart, he would have been very rich. The armored man asks Hiro if he is a monk since he is dressed strange and wears glasses like a doctor. Hiro takes his glasses off, and proclaims that he is Kensei's biggest fan and how he stole his sword. When Kensei takes his mask off to reveal he is Caucasian, Hiro puts his glasses back on and asks if he is really the hero Kensei. Kensei replies that he is known in Japan as Kensei, but no one has ever called him a hero before.
Hiro walks with Kensei and wonders aloud that the stories his father told him were about a gaijin (a modern Japanese term for non-Asian foreigner). As Kensei urinates, he mentions how the name "Kensei" means "Sword Saint", and that it intimidates others. Kensei came up with the name on his way from England. When Hiro asks (in English) if Kensei is English, Kensei begins to talk in English to Hiro about how he was allowed into the country, and stayed to look for his fortunes. Hiro argues that Kensei does not fight for money, but for honor, to which Kensei adds so long as it is honor he can spend. Kensei explains that he hires men to dress as him, ride a horse into a town and to shout about he's "fearsome ol' Kensei" while he picks off the black guards from a tree branch. Hiro finds these tactics dirty, while Kensei finds them to be smart. Hiro explains that he is from the future, and he read The Trials of Takezo Kensei, wherein Kensei loved the swordsmith's daughter and saved Otsu from Whitebeard. Hiro smells smoke and finds that the village of Otsu is burning.
Hiro wanders through the refugees of Otsu and realizes that the future may not be the same as he knew it, wondering, "no cars, no Ando, no me. Great Scott." Kensei tells him not to worry, that there is always sake. Hiro tells Kensei that he's supposed to be a hero, but Kensei retorts that being a hero never "filled anyone's sack with salt and saffron." Hiro tells him that for his heroism, Kensei was rewarded with more riches than the emperor, and married the most beautiful girl in Japan, the swordsmith's daughter. A young woman smacks Kensei in the face, telling him that they gave him everything to protect Otsu, and the bandits that burned the town took her father hostage. Kensei tells Yaeko that he tried to fight, but Hiro got in the way. Yaeko takes the sword (as both Kensei and Hiro exclaim "my sword!"), explaining that her father gave it to him as payment for their protection, and leaves. Hiro chases after her, but she leaves, saying someone has to save her father. Hiro tells Kensei that he must save the swordsmith and make Yaeko fall in love with him, but is punched by Kensei, who tries to find a drink.
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Trivia
- An interview with Tim Kring reveals that scenes that take place in feudal Japan are filmed in the Santa Monica Mountains and other outlying areas in California. Greg Beeman added on his blog that some scenes were shot in Ventura, CA.
- The modern-day city of Otsu is the capital of the Shiga prefecture.
- Otsu was founded October, 1st 1898, over two hundred years after Hiro supposedly visited there. Prior to that it was known as Awazu.