Kamakura Spent a Year Taming the Slam Dunk Crossing. Here's What Changed
Guides on duty, an official photo area in the park next door, crowdfunding and AI cameras. Inside the city's plan for the crossing everyone wants a photo of.
This Week in Seichi: Haruhi's School Opens for a Day, Natsume's Railway Returns, and Uji's Autumn Rally
The anime pilgrimage dates worth knowing for October and November 2026, in order.
What Is Anime Pilgrimage? A Field Guide to Seichi Junrei
Fans have been tracking down the real places behind anime for years. Here's what the hobby is, how towns got involved, and the one idea that makes it work.
One Day on the Enoden: Slam Dunk, Bunny Girl Senpai and the Sea
A relaxed coastal day from Fujisawa to Kamakura with two anime stops, one island, and no standing in traffic.
28 stops on 8 lines
Every spot is filed by region like a train line, with a station-style code you can find on the map. Collect a stamp each time you visit one.
Open the map
Lake Motosu and Koan CampgroundUchiura, NumazuHida-FurukawaTakayamaSuimon River, OgakiYuwaku OnsenTateishi Park, Lake SuwaKureAbashiri Prison MuseumUji Bridge and UjiDemachi Masugata Shopping StreetOld Toyosato Elementary SchoolOmi JinguNishikita Park, NishinomiyaSuga Shrine stairsKanda MyojinShimokitazawaKamakurakokomae CrossingShichirigahamaHakone and Lake AshiWashinomiya ShrineOld Chichibu BridgeOaraiLake HarunaKaratsuHitoyoshi and KumaShodoshimaHakkoda RopewayMore from Seichi
See everything-
Natsume's Book of Friends
Natsume's Book of Friends Country Just Got Its Railway Back
Six years after the 2020 floods, the Kumagawa Railway runs end to end again through the Hitoyoshi-Kuma countryside that Kumamoto promotes as Natsume's model.
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Your Name.
The Your Name. Stairs Are Real, and People Live at the Bottom of Them
Suga Shrine's stone staircase in Yotsuya is the film's most famous real place. Here's how to get the shot without becoming the reason the neighbors sigh.
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K-On!
K-On!'s School Is a 1937 Vories Building in Shiga, and You Can Walk Its Halls
The old Toyosato Elementary School is open to visitors most days, with a cafe in the old library. Just don't touch the piano.
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Love Live! School Idol Project
Kanda Myojin Is Love Live!'s Shrine, Akihabara's Shrine, and Still Very Much a Shrine
Nozomi's part-time job and the stairs μ's train on are a short walk from Akihabara. Bring coins, not a speaker.
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In This Corner of the World
In This Corner of the World Rebuilt Wartime Kure. Visit the Real One Quietly
Suzu's adopted hometown is a working naval port with bridges, storehouses and a hilltop house you can visit. Some of its lanes are simply people's homes.
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Love Live! Sunshine!!
Ten Years On, Numazu Is Still Aqours' Town
Love Live! Sunshine!! turned a seaside city into one of anime tourism's most loyal hosts. The concerts have wound down; the welcome hasn't.
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Teasing Master Takagi-san
Teasing Master Takagi-san's Island Is Real, and It Has a Fan Base Camp at the Ferry Port
Shodoshima is creator Soichiro Yamamoto's home island, and Tonosho turned a corner of its ferry terminal into Takagi-san HQ.
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Feature
How Lucky Star Turned a Saitama Shrine Into Anime Tourism's Origin Story
In 2007 a quiet shrine appeared in an anime opening. A year later its New Year crowd had more than tripled, the town had six new fictional residents, and fans were about to carry their own mikoshi.
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Lucky Star
Washinomiya Shrine Is Where Anime Pilgrimage Became a Thing, and It's Still Throwing a Party
Lucky Star turned a quiet Saitama shrine into the template for modern anime tourism. Nineteen years on, fans still carry a Lucky Star mikoshi every July.
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Tamako Market
Tamako Market's Shopping Street Is a Real Kyoto Arcade Where People Buy Dinner
Demachi Masugata is a working neighborhood market, and Tamako Love Story's riverside scenes are a short walk away at the Kamo River delta.
