"Seichi junrei", or holy-site pilgrimage, means visiting the real places behind anime and manga. Here are ten well-known spots and the works that put them on the map.
Anime pilgrimage is when fans travel to the real-world locations that inspired an anime, manga or film.
The spots here are ones cited as pilgrimage or town-revitalization examples in Japanese Wikipedia's article on the topic and in each work's article, checked on October 25, 2026.
埼玉県久喜市・Lucky Star
Lucky Star set off the anime pilgrimage boom of the late 2000s, and Washinomiya Shrine in Kuki, Saitama is the model for the shrine in the anime.
Read the story ›岐阜県飛騨市・Your Name
After Your Name became a smash hit, crowds visited Hida in Gifu Prefecture, the area that inspired its setting.
Read the story ›茨城県大洗町・Girls und Panzer
Girls und Panzer, the anime about high school girls who fight with tanks, turned the seaside town of Ōarai into one of the best-known pilgrimage spots.
Read the story ›兵庫県西宮市・The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is one of the works that made "pilgrimage" the word for visiting anime locations. Its setting is Nishinomiya in Hyōgo Prefecture.
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山梨県・Laid-Back Camp
Laid-Back Camp follows high school girls who love camping, and Yamanashi Prefecture worked with the production to welcome fans from the start.
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鳥取県境港市・GeGeGe no Kitarō
A shopping street in Sakaiminato, Tottori, the hometown of manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, lined with bronze statues of yōkai.
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埼玉県春日部市・Crayon Shin-chan
Kasukabe in Saitama is famous as the hometown of Shin-chan's family, so much so that the city registered the Nohara family as residents.
Read the story ›長野県大町市・Please Teacher!
Please Teacher! is cited as one of the earliest TV anime to spark pilgrimages. Its setting is Lake Kizaki in Ōmachi, Nagano.
Read the story ›長野県・JR飯田線・Kyūkyoku Chōjin R
A small rural station with a monument calling it the birthplace of anime pilgrimage: Tagiri Station on the JR Iida Line, a setting of the 1991 OVA Kyūkyoku Chōjin R.
Read the story ›兵庫県神戸市長田区・Tetsujin 28-go
Tetsujin 28-go is by Kobe-born manga artist Mitsuteru Yokoyama, and a 15.3-meter Tetsujin stands in Wakamatsu Park in front of Shin-Nagata Station.
Read the story ›Most of these places are ordinary neighborhoods, not theme parks. Please respect local rules when you visit.