Forum - View topicAnime Pilgrimage and the Growing Worldwide Appeal of Personal Pilgrimage
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Heibi
 Posts: 53 |
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I was at the Shinto shrine near Akihabara. They 1 to 1 acrylic character stands and many other Apothecary Diaries souvenirs at their shrine store. I picked up the two main characters and the picture used here for the story. Pretty neat.
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 497 Location: Oakland California |
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I often go to Tokyo with friends to explore places I have yet to see. Anime/manga related sites play a role in this. The last trip included going to Katsushika Ku with its KochiKame statues and manhole covers, Chōfu for Ge Ge Ge Kitaro, Inagi for the Scope Dog and Yatterwan statues and much more. I'm planning another trip for November.
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 12750 |
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I'll never make it to Japan for any such pilgrimages, but living on the US West Coast, I've done quite a few such for live action tv series back in the late 80s and early 90s, so I get the attraction (npi). I was viewed with suspicion by US Border Patrol upon returning from such an all day visit to Vancouver, BC (which has many, many sites!).
 Searched my car and everything. Guess they thought I was making a drug connection or something. But it's such great fun to see iconic buildings and locations irl, and see how they were modified for tv from their real appearance. There have even been a couple of films partially shot in my city, practically in my own backyard, so that's also fun to see.
One of the fandoms I've been impressed with is the passion of the Touken Ranbu franchise. According to TV Tropes, "Touken Ranbu has also gained prominence for its contributions to Japanese culture, as it has been credited with revitalizing interest in museum and shrine visits, increasing tourism in cities and other locations where swords featured in the original game and other aspects of the franchise are held, and successfully funding the restoration of various swords, among other accomplishments. As a result, it has become common practice for museums and shrines to collaborate with Touken Ranbu, with the franchise having nearly 150 collaborations under its belt by 2024." |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1722 |
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It’s a ton of fun to wander around Kyoto fresh off a viewing of Eccentric Family, or really any of the adaptations of Tomihiko Morimi’s works. Eccentric Family even has maps situating the action in the eye-catches.
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kryten2x4p
Posts: 38 Location: United Kingdom |
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While it may be some time (if ever) before I get to Japan, I have visited some sites depicted in anime that are outside of Japan.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Featured heavily in A Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar and a small part of the end credits of That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime Several places in certain cities like Venice, Salzburg, Barcelona, London and Paris which featured in Ashita no Nadja Of course the Aria franchise is set in Neo Venezia based quite accurately on the real Venice. In that anime I even saw a hotel I stayed in in 2007. Baker Street has been mentioned by a previous poster... Aria The Scarlet Ammo has a still set in Baker Street during the credits. The bus that featured had the correct number for that route at the time and the bus itself was made by Wrightbus which is not too far from where I live. Several scenes around London featured in the K-On movie. I've been to the farmhouse that was Alice's home in England in Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic [img]https://1drv.ms/i/c/7c6fb8eff4577cd8/Edh8V_TvuG8ggHwkoQAAAAABrM1oIycRvXhrUvV6MkC7LA?e=jcLcmn[/img] and had nice afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream! |
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motormind
Posts: 103 |
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I have been to Japan several times with the explicit purpose of visiting locations from my favorite anime, and I have seen quite a few from shows like Kamichu, K-On, Suzumiha Haruhi, Mahou Tsukai, Noein, Aoi Hana, Uta Kata, Rin No Lagrange, Tamayura ... the list goes on. There's simply something addictive about seeing a location from a beloved show, marveling about what has been directly transferred into anime, and also what has been left different.
Location hunting has been a Japanese subculture for decades now, so I'd say it is very popular in Japan. I am a bit surprised that it is so popular among foreigners as well, especially since you have to go through quite some effort to see some of them, especially outside of urban settings. I also have never seen another foreign location hunter before, even though I met plenty of Japanese ones. I haven't been in Japan for a while now, especially since things got a bit weird since the pandemic, but I am still thinking about visiting locations. Aside from seeing new spots I'd like to revisit places as well, but unfortunately a lot of them have disappeared over the years. Time really is the biggest enemy of seichijunrei, it seems. Well, I'm saving up to go to Japan next year... hopefully I will be able to see some more spots. |
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OrangeRafi
Posts: 173 |
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I've been to Japan a couple of time and if I go to a city/prefecture where I know one of the anime that I watched and liked is based from, I tend to do some sort of pilgrimage on the place. When I was in Kyoto I went to parts of Uji and visited some sites from Hibike Euphonium. in Akihabara I went to the sites of Love Live! and Steins;Gate. In Shibuya I wandered around like in Perosna 5. I wet to Shirakawa-go and visited some places from Higurashi.
It was fun but I wouldn't solely plan my Japan trip just for the anime pilgrimage. The same as I'm not just going to Japan because of anime but because I want to have a holiday to a country that I enjoyed visiting. |
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vatmoor
Posts: 1 |
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That’s incredible — I had no idea Kinmoza! included a real farmhouse in England. That image is lovely, and afternoon tea with clotted cream sounds like the perfect way to top it off. Love the detail about the Wrightbus too — it’s always fun when shows get those little things right.
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RacingManiac
Posts: 68 |
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I love doing anime related tourism. I went visiting Enoshima/Fujisawa/Kamakura just outside of Yokohama to see the locations of Bunny Girl Senpai(anime and LN). That area and the cool train Enodan is just a great place to see and visit(also familiar with Slam Dunk fans). Planning to go to Japan this year to drive most of the touges from Initial D in my rental car...
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enurtsol
 Posts: 15210 |
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It's not as often in the West, but some examples of pop-culture tourism are:
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4663 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I have a teenage relative doing the Japan anime pilgrimage thing this summer and I am very envious.
Even though I'm middle-aged, I'd still do it if I could afford it although some of the shows I'd do it for are set in locations which are a bit off the beaten track for organized anime pilgrimages like the one ANN is doing (like how I'd want to visit Hamamatsu to see locations for both Strawberry Marshmallow and Gabriel DropOut but Hamamatsu isn't really the sort of city that caters to foreign tourists).
Oh yeah, Onomichi (for Kamichu!) and Nishinomiya (for Haruhi Suzumiya) are definitely also on the list of less obvious Japanese towns and cities I'd want to visit (plus Okayama for Tenchi Muyo, specifically for episode 6 of Tenchi Universe, the episode where Kiyone and Mihoshi are working odd jobs in Okayama city just to be able to afford a small apartment by the railroad tracks). |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1781 |
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I've seen all the Sailor Moon sites. I loved that the easiest way to find them was by using Pokemon Go's maps, and enjoyed seeing that Rei's shrine is a gym in the game. I've also visited several of the sites featured in Cardcaptor Sakura like Zojo-ji (shrine by Tokyo Tower), which is where the Final Judgement arc took place. It was interesting to see the differences between the anime's portrayal and how it looks in real life. CCS's portrayal of these sites was far more accurate that of SM and it was neat that, because I own several of the CCS backgrounds used to make the episode 44-46 arc, I could easily reference them to compare and contrast.
Visiting these areas was more of a priority the first few times that I visited Japan. Now..? I'd rather spend time outside of Tokyo. I like that there's so many interesting aspects to explore outside of Tokyo that you can visit the same country many times and see something completely different every visit. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1946 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I am not sure why the author said:
Nakano Broadway was already very well established when I first visited there in 2012.
It's never just the one interest when visiting Japan but the totality of the experiences, hence stopping and looking at and experiencing random things is an important part of any visit. That said, when one can visit a pilgrimage site with some of the people involved, it is even better, such as the recent Shirakawa-go Fes: Source https://x.com/eikoshimamiya/status/1934270394640552239 
Eiko Shimamiya, Rekka Katakiri, Kanako Ito, Ayane in the picture. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 12750 |
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That's pretty much true of all countries (ok, maybe not Vatican City, Luxembourg or Iceland, though still plenty to experience in the latter). Even in the US, CA alone is at least 8 countries worth of different sights. People tend to think of whatever one or two stereotypes represent a country, but landscapes and cultural ambiances can change radically over surprisingly small distances. As well as change very little over large distances, of course. |
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Picky33
Posts: 271 |
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I’m glad the article referenced the Anime Tourism 88 organization. I have been all over Japan collecting stamps and have collected 3/4 of the available ones. Part of pilgrimages involve going to the restaurants featured in the anime, such as the Eel restaurant in S2 of laidback camp. I also will try to re-create shots from the anime. This is a little harder because I have to research these ahead of time.
Most the stamps I have left to collect are on small islands or have closed due to natural disasters. I also wish for more tourist to get out of the big 3 cities. FYI. Tottori is the least visited prefecture for tourist from North America, which is crazy because it’s home to the Detective Conan museum and the Tottori Sand Dunes. |
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