Interest
Seaside Town of Iwami Celebrates Upcoming Free! Prequel
posted on by Eric Stimson
Iwami, a seaside town in Japan's Tottori Prefecture, served as the model for Iwatobi, the setting of Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club. With the prequel film to Free!, High Speed! -Free! Starting Days-, set to release on December 5, Iwami is celebrating with a campaign to lure more aficionados of cute boys in swim trunks to the town.
Iwami welcomes arrivals in cars at the Kinanse Iwami Roadside Station with a wall covered with High Speed! posters. Other places are expected to get "hijacked" by posters in the future.
The Iwami Tourism Association is selling advance tickets to High Speed! for 1,500 yen ($12.20) from November 14 to December 4; these stickers may come included (they are assigned at random).
Certain hotels in Iwami will also give their customers this exclusive High Speed! postcard. The campaign starts on November 17 and lasts all the way until November 16, 2016.
The town will offer a "stamp rally" beginning on December 5: visitors to various spots around Iwami can collect stamps to win this exclusive High Speed! postcard. This campaign will last until March 31.
Tokyoites weary of the urban rat race can attend the Tottori Iwami Ijū Kōryū Fair, which promotes Iwami as a living and working destination. It will be held at the Yaesu exit of Tokyo station on December 5 and 6. Visitors on the first day can pick up a free Free! clear file.
The Iwami Tourism Association will also start selling original High Speed! merchandise later in November, beginning with these stickers for 540 yen ($4.40).
Iwami has been a "pilgrimage" location for Free! fans for quite some time, with locations like the Tajiri Port and Uradome Swim Hall recreated in the anime. Iwami promises to post a guide to locations recreated in High Speed! as well.
[Via Nijimen and Iwami-chō Kankō Kyōkai official site]
