One of the joys of being an anime fan in Japan is visiting the real places seen in your favorite anime series, which is known as seichi meguri in Japanese, lit. “making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.” My first visit to a real place in anime was in Shinjuku, standing in front of the Studio Alta TV from Megazone 23, then exploring the station to find the City Hunter “xyz” blackboard. (Yes, I rock my anime old school.) These days most every anime are set in real locations for added realism, and if you should want to eat taiyaki in front of the train station from Kanon, walk up the sakura tree-lined road that Tomoyo fought to save in Clannad or even visit the real K-On! school, they’re all just a Shinkansen ride away. Two places that are especially popular with fans are Lake Kizaki in Nagano and Shirakawa in Gifu, the respective settings of Please Teacher/Please Twins and Higurashi When They Cry, and both areas have blossomed thanks to “otaku” tourists who come to drink in the energy of the place and spend money on souvenirs. My non-otaku wife scoffs at the idea of anyone getting excited about visiting a place from an anime, yet she’s perfectly happy visiting famous locations from the 1953 film Roman Holiday or her favorite Korean dramas when in Italy or South Korea. So which real places seen in anime would you like to visit?
Mmost anime is set in real locations you can visit.
