Anime A to Z
26 shows and films, and the real places they borrowed.
Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day
Childhood friends drift back together in Chichibu. The city also hosts the follow-ups The Anthem of the Heart (2015) and Her Blue Sky (2019).
Bocchi the Rock!
A painfully shy guitarist ends up in a band that plays a small Shimokitazawa live house. The neighborhood is real, and so is the venue's model.
Chihayafuru
A girl chases the top title in competitive karuta, the poetry card game whose title matches are held at Omi Jingu.
Girls und Panzer
High-school girls compete in tank warfare as a sport. Their school ship's home port is Oarai, recreated street by street.
Golden Kamuy
A war veteran and an Ainu girl hunt for hidden gold in Meiji-era Hokkaido. Abashiri Prison is one of the story's key locations.
Hanasaku Iroha: Blossoms for Tomorrow
A Tokyo girl is sent to work at her grandmother's hot-spring inn. The town is modeled on Yuwaku Onsen, which turned the show's lantern festival into a real one.
Hyouka
A low-energy student gets pulled into small mysteries in Kamiyama, a fictional city based on author Honobu Yonezawa's hometown of Takayama.
In This Corner of the World
A young woman marries into a family in the naval port of Kure during the Second World War. The film rebuilt the wartime town in careful detail.
Initial D
A tofu-delivery kid turns out to be a downhill prodigy on Mt. Akina, the series' version of Mt. Haruna in Gunma.
K-On!
A light-music club of high-school girls drinks a lot of tea and occasionally plays. Their school is modeled on the old Toyosato Elementary buildings in Shiga.
Laid-Back Camp
Girls go camping around Mt. Fuji in Yamanashi. The lakeside campground from the very first episode is a real, bookable site.
Love Live! School Idol Project
Students form an idol group to keep their school from closing. Its Akihabara and Kanda setting turned Kanda Myojin and the steep stairs beside it into a fan landmark.
Love Live! Sunshine!!
A new school idol group from Uchiura in Numazu, a city that has leaned all the way into its anime fame.
Lucky Star
A slice-of-life comedy about four high-school friends, and the show that started the modern pilgrimage boom at Washinomiya Shrine.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
A force-of-nature high-schooler starts a club to find aliens, time travelers and espers, in a town modeled on author Nagaru Tanigawa's hometown of Nishinomiya.
Natsume's Book of Friends
A boy who can see yokai sets about returning their names. Kumamoto Prefecture promotes the Hitoyoshi-Kuma area as the model for its countryside.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Teenage pilots defend the fortress city Tokyo-3, which the series places on the north shore of Lake Ashi in Hakone.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
A supernatural teen drama that lives on the Shonan coast, from Fujisawa Station to the sea at Shichirigahama.
A Silent Voice
A former bully tries to make amends with a deaf girl he tormented in grade school. The film's town is mainly modeled on Ogaki in Gifu.
Slam Dunk
Takehiko Inoue's high-school basketball classic. The seaside rail crossing from the TV opening now draws visitors from all over Asia.
Sound! Euphonium
A high-school concert band chases a national competition in Uji, author Ayano Takeda's hometown just south of Kyoto.
Tamako Market
Life on a cozy shopping street through the eyes of a mochi-shop daughter. The street is modeled on Kyoto's Demachi Masugata arcade.
Teasing Master Takagi-san
A girl keeps winning teasing battles against the boy next to her in class, on Shodoshima, the island where creator Soichiro Yamamoto grew up.
Your Name.
A boy in Tokyo and a girl in a mountain town start waking up in each other's lives. Makoto Shinkai's breakout hit sent fans to its Tokyo stairs and to the Hida region in Gifu.
Yuri!!! on Ice
A figure skater regroups in his seaside hometown of Hasetsu, which is modeled on Karatsu in Saga.
Zatsu Tabi -That's Journey-
A burned-out manga artist lets online polls decide where she travels next. One trip takes her up the Hakkoda Ropeway in Aomori.