What is Seichijunrei 聖地巡礼?

Seichijunrei means a pilgrimage of sacred places. In current Japanese pop culture parlance, the definition is extended to visiting ‘sacred’ locations that appear in media, especially Otaku-oriented media.

This next video goes further into depth about the relationship Seichijunrei enthusiasts tend to develop with Shinto shrines, and how the activity’s practice exploded during the heyday of Lucky Star and the peak of the moe boom.

If you’re interested in an in-depth explanation, I recommend checking out this article. Michael Vito’s explanation is probably the most academic and well-documented you’ll find online.

Seichijunrei as a practice is gradually becoming more commodified, diffused and defused. The most principle example is the Anime Tourism Association, founded in 2016 by Kadokawa and some partnering travel companies. Each year it releases a list of 88 “animation spots”, which get plenty of coverage on websites covering anime news. Stopping at 88 is a deliberate reference to the 88 temples from the Buddhist monk Kukai’s Shikoku Pilgrimage, or Shikoku Junrei (四国巡礼 – same kanji). The ATA also offers some guided tours. There’s even an information kiosk at Narita Airport Terminal 2. Some have accused the AT88 lists of showing favoritism to Kadokawa’s intellectual property. Regardless, it serves as a helpful resource.

Anime tourists might want to consider looking into JR’s Suica card or other prepaid transit cards to expedite the process of boarding trains. These are sold at kiosks in Haneda and Narita. With how deeply rail transit is integrated into both otaku culture and the wider Japanese public consciousness, it’s no surprise that train stations, perhaps even above temples and shrines, are one of the most frequent and easily identifiable locations in anime and manga, regardless of the setting. On occasion, trains or buses will get a limited time wrap themed around a particular manga or anime. The most famous example might be the time a bullet train got a wrap in the style of Eva Unit 02.

For those considering location tourism in Japan, especially as a foreign tourist, there are certain unwritten rules of you ought to follow as best you can. Respect the private property of businesses. Don’t step onto grounds of a high school or middle school if it’s in active use and you don’t belong there. Don’t photograph bystanders without explicit consent, especially if their faces are visible. Definitely don’t take any photos inside a public hot spring or bathhouse without permission. Pick up after your trash, try not to make a scene, announce your intentions when asked, and don’t vandalize.

When these rules are broken, it damages the perception and image of anime tourism as a practice, otaku, and foreign tourists. In summary, try your best to avoid doing meiwaku 迷惑 (disturbance, nuisance, causing trouble). There are several cases where anime tourists have created problems or annoyances by repeated behaviors. For example, don’t go down the stairs to the back entrance to Bocchi the Rock’s Shelter. It’s off-limits. Don’t go to Persona 5‘s laundromat to take pictures unless you have clothes to wash. It can also be bothersome to take photos of private residences, so be mindful of that as well.

What is Butaitanbou 舞台探訪?

Butaitanbou is Japanese for scene hunting or location hunting. In this context, it tends to mean the act of finding the exact angle of a particular shot or animation cel and photographing it, or overlaying a print of the original shot inside its bordering real-world area. Tourists engaging in Seichijunrei often practice Butaitanbou as well, especially on video sharing platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

What’s a Stamp Rally?

A Stamp Rally is an event where a shopping district, municipality, local group, or rail line puts together a book or sheet of locations that will offer stamps for a stamp book over a certain period of time. After collecting a certain number of stamps, a participant is sometimes eligible for some kind of reward, like an exclusive merch item. Lately, this has become another way Seichijunrei can become commodified.

What’s a Collaboration Cafe?

Collaboration cafes are usually pop-up venues where fans of a particular media franchise can enjoy drinks, deserts, or food items themed after said franchise. These cafes often require reservations far in advance due to their popularity and small capacity. The food is often of middling quality, but the effort is generally placed on presentation. Many cafes will have exclusive goods for sale in addition to the menu items. Collabo-cafe.com is a useful resource for exploring this practice.

What’s up with all those decorative manhole covers?

This practice is preceded by depictions of more traditional cultural artifacts, like block prints, shrines, castles, and regional crafts. Over time, decorative manhole covers started to include covers depicting characters and designs relevant to pop culture, including Pokémon, Gundam, Black Jack, and Detective Conan. The location of these covers is sometimes but not always linked to anime locations. Sometimes it might be tied to a mangaka’s hometown. Other times, a single giant series like Pokémon might have decorative covers all over Japan. A collection of covers for a wide variety of series in Tokorozawa, Saitama made headlines in 2020 due to being internally illuminated. The general practice of decorating manhole covers in Japan seems to have started in the 80s. For a deeper history, check out the book Drainspotting: Japanese Manhole Covers by Remo Camerota.

Google MyMaps on Desktop

Zoom with the mouse wheel. Hitting the sidebar will pull up a list of pins. Hitting the frame-looking icon in the top right of the frame will open the map in a new tab. From there you can explore the map or open it in Google Earth.

Google MyMaps On Mobile

How to Use MyMaps on Your Phone with Google Maps App

This website was created as a hobbyist project using WordPress.