Interest
Kinmoza! Farmhouse Wins B&B Story of the Year
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The farmhouse that was the basis for one of the English locations in Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic has won an award for AA B&B Story of the Year 2018–19.
Fosse Farmhouse, a Bed & Breakfast, is located in the Wiltshire Cotswolds near the village Castle Combe. (It has its own website.) It has been popular in Japan since 1990.
The 200 year-old farmhouse was the model for the home of Alice, the English girl who is one of the main characters in Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic. The house's owner, Caron Cooper, showed members of the anime's production team around the building, and also showed them how to bake scones (represented in the anime). As well as running the farmhouse, Cooper also travels to Japan to teach British cooking and tea-etiquette.
According to the award page, Cooper met a Japanese couple, Shozo and Yasuko Mitani, in 1989. The couple wanted to create an English-themed B&B in Japan, and Cooper invited them to her farmhouse. Later, the Mitanis displayed photographs of Fosse Farmhouse in the reception of their own English themed B&B, 'Tenkisu' in Hakuba, Japan.
Fosse farmhouse was the subject of a six-page feature in a 1990 edition of 'LEE', a Japanese ladies magazine 'LEE'. This increased interest in the house from Japanese "office ladies" who wanted to stay at the B&B.
In 1992 Cooper won an award for 'Best Tourist Accommodation' chosen by Japanese visitors as part of a 'Britain Welcomes Japan' campaign.
In 1994, the Japanese Imperial family visited Fosse Farmhouse on a private visit.
Following the use of Fosse Farmhouse in Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic, Cooper was invited to the premiere of the 2016 film of the series, Kin-iro Mosaic: Pretty Days. She joined the red carpet guests with hundreds of fans queuing for her autograph.
Today, anime fans from around the world come to stay at Fosse Farmhouse.
Yui Hara's original 4-panel Kin-iro Mosaic manga's story begins with Shinobu, a 15-year-old, seemingly "pure Japanese" girl who did a homestay in Great Britain. Even after coming back to Japan, she still misses her time overseas. One day, an air mail letter arrives from Alice, the girl in Shinobu's host family in Britain. The letter reads, "Shinobu, I'm coming to Japan!" The "Japanese/British girls' mixed comedy" follows the lives of Shinobu, Alice, and other girls from both Japan and Great Britain.
The first Kinmoza! anime series was broadcast in 2013, with a sequel series, Hello!! KINMOZA, following in 2015.
Via Otaku News
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