After a series of crushing defeats, 23-year-old Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki returns to his after 5 years abroad. Yuri visits an ice rink and perfectly mimics a routine performed by his idol, Russian figure skating champion Victor Nikiforov. When secretly recorded footage of Yuri’s performance is uploaded to the internet, it catches Victor’s attention, and he travels to Kyushu with an offer to coach Yuri and revive his figure-skating career. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

Due to its relationship with international sporting competitions, Yuri on Ice quickly becomes an international adventure, deeply involved in showcasing landmarks and establishing place. Outside of Karatsu and Fukuoka, locations featured include Moscow, Sochi, Barcelona, Detroit, and Beijing. While the steak restaurant Caravan does not appear in the anime, co-creators Sayo Yamamoto Mitsurou Kubo stopped by, and Kubo and drew some shikishi illustrations which the restaurant still keeps on display.

Both Saga and the city of Karatsu have official Yuri on Ice landing pages. It seems both took the opportunity to use the series as a means of encouraging tourism and cooperative revitalization. Even the governor of Saga has an official statement on the Saga webportal.

An official print seichijunrei guide was created for fans visiting Saga. In person, official illustrations are used for scale cutout standees and round stop markers, like the standees shown below, now housed at Kagamiyama Onsen.

Official Maps – Official Itinerary

This open-arms approach to seichijunrei in Saga was continued during the airing of Zombieland Saga. In fact, Yamaguchi cosplayed as the fictional zombie idol group’s manager Tatsumi during a documentary feature called Natsu no Saga.

* The China pins may be offset due to the GCJ-02 coordinate system problem.