Barold's Preferred Japanese Media Tour 2024

In my recent trip to Japan with my partner I had prepared a list of locations that inspired some of my favourite media from Japan. Some were known before we planned to go, such as the Yakuza Games’ Kamurocho being based on Tokyo’s Kabukicho, however we discovered some others while researching things to do near where we were staying. Sadly I lacked the fortitude to rewatch all the media in preparation for the pictures to plan the angles, but I did research the locations themselves. I used Google’s abandoned but functional “My Maps” feature to mark out the ideal picture taking spots and, armed with my mum’s DSLR camera and a promise to my partner that these excursions would definitely be interesting, collected the photos for this blog post.

Evangelion - Hakone

Between Tokyo and Kyoto we stopped in Hakone for a night. This one wasn’t actually originally on the media tour plan but I discovered the links to Evangelion shortly before leaving the UK when I was looking for things to do in Hakone during the day before our train.

Tokyo-3 in the show is built on the site of the former Hakone, which you can sort of see with the characteristic mountains and volcanic springs throughout. Unfortunately there weren’t any real spots where you could recreate a particular shot or with any individual recognisable landmarks I could find, however I did take a photo of the 1st Torii gate of Hakone Shrine (the famous one in the water) and that one is visible in the first Rebuild film when Ramiel appears.

Despite the lack of landscape mirroring the town embraces the link to Evangelion enthusiastically, with local convenience stores having a small Evangelion souvenir section and occasionally other branding, as well as Togendai Station (where NERV staff transfer in the show!!!!) having a permanent Evangelion themed section. There were some other Evangelion related locations we could have visited but with little time, sore legs and shit weather we kept it minimal.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - Nishinomiya, Osaka

With the help of a fanmade site (https://pikarin2438.wixsite.com/en-us) from a graduate of the school featured in the show, I marked a couple of spots to visit for the Haruhi Pilgrimage. The anime makes heavy use of real life locations from Nishinomiya and it would have taken multiple days to visit everywhere on the site, so again I was relatively conservative with what I put my partner through.

First up was Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi station, home to the meeting spot used throughout the series by the SOS Brigade. The layout is actually quite different compared to real life, and I could only actually find one shot with the clock in it, but it is still recognisable. In the shopping centre next to the station is a library and a bookshop, both with a Haruhi-themed display showing some areas of the town used in the show.

On the way to our next location we went past Café Dream, another frequent of the Brigade - it’s moved location since when it was featured in the show but it still marks the connection with a maid Mikuru outside the front door.

Our final stops were Shin’ike Pond and Hirota Shrine, home of some iconic scenes from the SOS Brigade’s film for the cultural festival. These pictures are a lot more comparable to the shots in the anime, and while taking some pictures of the pond we ran into a lovely fellow also on a Haruhi pilgrimage, whose English was far better than my Japanese. He pointed out a cute keychain attached to the railings by the pond, marking it as a Haruhi Heritage site.

Night is Short, Walk on Girl - Kyoto

Tomihiko Morimi often sets his books in Kyoto, and Night is Short, Walk on Girl + Tatami Galaxy are two of my favourite animationed works of all time. Knowing Night is Short was set in Pontocho (a Kyoto entertainment district), I did some googling to see if the anime features any real life locations and I heard some rumblings of a bar chain called “Bar Moonwalk”.

After a climb up two flights of stairs we made it in and saw it was plastered with Night is Short artwork. Scanning the qr code given to us went to a “collaboration” menu featuring a 250 yen cocktail for each of the main characters of Tatami and Night is Short. I appreciated the vibe but I did think that I had misunderstood the reddit post - it definitely seemed like they were fans of the film rather than a source of inspiration. However upon a rewatch it turns out it was - while not named directly, Otome visits a very similar looking and similarly located bar at the start of the film. Sadly in the time since the film inflation has hit and the drinks are no longer 200 yen, and Otome doesn’t mention the table charge (although it was still a way cheaper place than anywhere in the UK).

We also got a cocktail deal where you got 2 named after the main duo and a “fake Denki Bran”, that came with a coaster to keep as a souvenir and a laminated poster to… take a picture of and give back? The other Bar Moonwalks (I saw 3 in Osaka) were not Night is Short themed either, so it was quite a unique experience.

Tatami Galaxy - Kyoto

The spots of The Tatami Galaxy were a bit more obvious. One of the first lines of the show mentions Shimogamo Shrine, site of the notorious Neko Ramen, and this was very easy to find. There were no specific shots of the shrine I could match but it did look very pretty. They also had a goshuin (stamp with some calligraphy done in a special book) specific to a different anime named “Eccentric Family”, based on a book by the same author as Tatami, available for that month which I got for my collection.

Next up was Kyoto University, where Watashi begins his rose-coloured campus life. Despite the drab weather the clock tower that rolls back at the end of every episode looked pretty cool. Unfortunately we only saw this scene once as we had a tight schedule to keep.

Finally we came to the Kamogawa delta, also identified in the opening of the first episode, but appearing several times throughout the show, such as when Ozu falls off the bridge, or when The Fellas are launching fireworks at students having a better time than them across the river. There were some jammers drumming under the bridge while we were there and I had to do some parkour to get to good camera angles (don't tell my mum as I was holding her camera).

Yakuza - Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama

At the time of writing I am yet to play all of the Yakuza games (currently 8 mainline, of which I haven't played number 5 or 6). I had known for a while that Kamurocho was a based on a real district of Tokyo, and similarly for Sotenbori in Osaka, so when our trip "happened" to go to both of those places it was one of the first things on my todo list. It required a bit of preparation - while the maps were quite similar to the real-life areas they were slightly simplified, and several of the locations have probably changed since they were used for the first few games.

I decided to look around Yakuza 8 mainly, as you are able to go to Kamurocho as well as the main areas of that game, (Yokohama which we did go to and Hawaii which we didn't), and fish up reference images as the graphics would be towards the better end of the series (dropping into 7 for Dotonbori). Controller in hand and google maps streetview on my other monitor, I started scouring and comparing the locations for spots to aim for if (when) we went past.

Yakuza - Kabukicho, Tokyo

First stop on the Yakuza section of this tour is the famous Kamurocho, home of Kiryu and most of his shenangians. Set in the adult-oriented entertainment district of Kabukicho, walking around it felt like they had chosen a fitting location for the game. We went in the middle of the day, and it is apparently quite a lot better than it was in the past, but the sheer number of hostess clubs, love hotels and pachinko parlours was still unlike other districts we had been to.

The in-game map is practically the same as the real one, so it was easy to find our way around. The first stop was the famous sign and slightly down the street Don Quijote. Ironically in the latest game, Like a Dragon 8, the Donki has been removed in favour of a police station, so I had to travel back to an older entry for the reference image. Despite this, the Donki was advertising the new Yakuza Amazon Prime series, so they clearly don't mind the association.

The Millenium Tower sadly isn't real, but there is a tower roughly in the same spot and with a cinema right next to it. On the real building they even have a Godzilla peeping over too.

Theatre square is also not exactly as it is in the game, but it's still very recognisable, and the car park where you often get beaten up is also present, complete with host club adverts galore.

There was probably historically more accurate architecture but a town can change a lot in 20 years, so this was all I could find. I also failed at attracting anyone to try and beat me up, despite Kiryu making it look so easy.

Yakuza - Dotonbori, Osaka

Yakuza's Sotenbori, is another recurring location in the series where the layout is almost identical to the real map. Dotonbori is a famous spot for its nightlife, with street food and bars lining the two streets, and there is a Don Quijote in the middle of the canal area with a ferris wheel built in somehow. Sadly that one didn't make it into the game, but although iconic story locations like Majima's cabaret club from Yakuza 0 aren't around there are some funny areas that do match the game.

These spots aren't actually particularly memorable from the game, but in my google maps hunting prior I spotted some similarities. The gate is less iconic than the Kamurocho one, and both markets shown in the images aren't actually places you can go into, just see from outside. The dragon however is very funny both in the game and in real life.

One of the best locations almost straight out of real life is the comically large crab building - the legs even move in a similar robotic fashion.

Another of the more recognisable spots that turns out to be a lot more accurate than I expected were the bridges. The canal was a great place to walk around, and the back of the crab building is as surprisingly accurate as the front. No one was thrown in while we were there, although we heard about a funny story about jumping in the canal.

To celebrate the Hanshin Tigers winning the baseball league in 1985, lookalikes of the players jumped in the canal. They were missing one lookalike and so they stole a statue of Colonel Sanders from the local KFC and threw him in instead, and for 18 years after they didn't win the league. This was referred to the "Curse of the Colonel". Once the curse was broken and they won again in 2003 over 5000 people jumped in the canal instead.

Yakuza - Isezakichō, Yokohama

Isezakichō is probably the series' largest map (maybe excluding the recent Honolulu), and also covers the widest area in real life despite being heavily simplified. While the Kabukicho and Dotonbori tours took less than 30 minutes each, I was dragging my poor partner around Yokohama for easily 2 hours, and the scenery was arguably a lot more dull (thanks for coming).

While Yokohama has a few touristy areas, the majority of them were not in the area I was walking around, meaning we were trawling through a lot of small streets as I pointed at random office buildings, slinging trivia (that sex shop is a sex shop in the game too but it actually sells weapons!). I also took far too many photos so apologies in advance for the poor formatting of this upcoming section.

First off we went through the bar district near the game's hub, Survive Bar manned by definitely not Kashiwaga. There are a few noteable things about this area, mostly the weapon shop beneath the bridge in the first image, and in the last image the old site of Ichiban Sweets, Ichiban's moneymaking venture, from Yakuza 7 (where did that 100mil go in Yakuza 8 huh?). Survive bar isn't actually there, but I took a picture of where it would be geographically for posterity.

Next up in the content barrage is some areas near Ichiban's place of residence - the aforementioned sex shop and the car park hosting the epic Can Collection minigame in Yakuza 7. Nearby this area are several notable story areas like the HelloWork Job Centre, the homeless camp/castle, and the "which of these 4 guys is pissing into the canal" sidequest, however sadly none of these have made their way to reality.

Moving onto main shopping street, we get to see some more key areas of the game - the indie cinema where you fight off goat demons in suits, Koreatown (home of one of the three main factions in Yakuza 7) , the train station, and a tall structure at the end of the road. Interestingly this area of town also had an enormous baseball stadium, but that didn't make it into the game at all.

Isezakichō's Chinatown is one of the more known areas of Yokohama, and that made its way into the game too as home of the other non-yakuza faction in the play. There were a few restuarants down here that were clearly inspirations for ones in the game too, but to save my feet and my partners sanity I didn't go for the extra 20 minute diversion to get them all. I didn't include this picture in the blog as you can technically see the evidence at the bottom of the gate image, but the arcade in-game you can go in to play claw machines and Virtua Fighter (GIGO) is actually a real arcade you can go in too, with the same name and everything.

Next are a few pictures of the park near the oceanfront, another one of the slightly more touristy spots. The picture of the dome I couldn't get The Guys to move out of the way for a clear shot in photo mode, but luckily it's still obvious where it is. Pretty nice park and a good view of the ferris wheel which I also didn't take a picture of or go on, as well as some cool big boats. In game events that happen here include fighting a bear, a failed proposal and a mario kart clone.

Finally are some other buildings that are not really notable at all in the game (I think you can go in the one with the pillars) but they are Pretty Epic bits of architecture that I spotted on my map searching and they were also on the way to our train station as we realised we were about to be late for our appointment at the Kirby Café.

Thus concludes the Yakuza Tour. Sadly going to Okinawa and Hiroshima was out of the budget for this year but maybe they'll make it onto the list next time now we've had our fill of primary tourism locations in Tokyo and Kyoto. Maybe I'll even have played Yakuza 5 and 6 by then.

Your Name

The hit Makoto Shinkai film from 2016 is set all around Tokyo with some pretty specific inspirations for some areas, but for time reasons and also effort in finding them we only went to the most famous one (which even had a google maps marker!!!), Suga Shrine (where The Stairs are).

This is probably the place that felt the most touristy of the specific media spots - there were two or three couples doing photoshoots who were on the stairs when arrived through us looking at the actual shrine and were still there when we left. The shrine itself also had some cool easter eggs to lean into the association, with special ema shrine wishes you could get, and a special printed goshuin stamp with a picture of the stairs on. I noticed when getting these photos together than the text in the film on the sign of the shrine is actually the same as the real sign (hidden behind a vending machine) which was cool - a lot of things, especially Yakuza, change the names around even though it's obvious where they are set.

Outro

Thanks for reading. The Japan trip really was everything I hoped it would be (pretty cool and I didn't have to do any work) and this media tour is a relatively small part of what we got up to. This post is just so I can look back and see all of these parts in one go. There are many games/shows that didn't make the list of places we were able to visit but unfortunately that just means we will have to go back.