SUZUME (Suzume no Tojimari) MOVIE REAL-LIFE LOCATIONS

Article by Kaori

1. What is "SUZUME" ("Suzume no Tojimari")?
2. STORY OF SUZUME
3. SUZUME REAL-LIFE LOCATIONS
4. SUZUME Related Items

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What is "SUZUME" ("Suzume no Tojimari")?

"Suzume no Tojimari," also known as "Suzume," is the 13th movie by famous director Makoto Shinkai who is also the director of the award-winning anime movies: Weathering with You and Your Name. It also has manga and novel adaptations. Suzume meets its international audience for the first time at the Berlin International Film Festival.

As the movie gets more and more attention each day, the soundtrack of Suzume also becomes unforgettable for some listeners. The vocalist for the theme song, Suzume, is Singer Toaka. It is composed by the Japanese rock band Radwimps and composer Kazuma Jinnouchi. Another song from the soundtrack, Kanata Haluka, has an official music video.

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STORY OF SUZUME

Suzume is an action-adventure story of a high school girl named Suzume, who loses her mother at a very young age and grows up living with her aunt. One day on her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man called Souta, who is looking for doors at abandoned places.

After Suzume makes a mistake with the door she finds, she learns that there are doors that should be closed and locked to prevent some giant worms from entering this earth from a place called ever-after. These worms can cause earthquakes.

She starts to travel with Souta all over Japan to prevent this chain of disasters. On her journey, She meets a unique cat called Daijin. Suzume believes that Daijin could be the reason the doors open.
In this journey, she meets new people, makes new friends, and opens her heart to face the grief she hides for a long time. She finds hope and even love.



This article may contain spoilers.

SUZUME REAL-LIFE LOCATIONS

Suzume no Tojimari anime happens in Miyazaki (Kyushu), Ehime, Kobe, Tokyo, and Tohoku. Even though the anime takes place in real Japanese cities, they use a lot of fictional locations. Still, there are plenty of locations you can see from real-life Japan in Suzume.

Not long after Suzume and Souta start chasing Daijin, we see Suzume checking her location on her phone. The town she lives in is a fictional place that is assumed to be based on Nichinan City, Miyazaki. The home location on the map on Suzume's phone, and the map on the wall of Suzume’s aunt’s office make us think this way. The map on the wall looks like Tonoura Port in Nichinan City.





She travels to Ehime by ferry with Souta.




Suzume shows Souta a video of Daijin walking on a bridge. And Souta tells Suzume that that bridge leads to Kobe. So we assume that Daijin might be using Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.




Suzume and Souta continue chasing Daijin, the cat, and it looks like Daijin is popular on social media. We see him in some famous tourist spots. Senso-ji and Tokyo Tower are a few places he has been to in Tokyo.




Tokyo Tower is a communication and observation tower that is also a landmark of Tokyo. It is visited by many tourists. Buddhist temple Sensō -ji, which is in Asakusa, is the oldest temple in Tokyo.




Suzume continues her journey at Shin-Kobe Station. She uses Shinkansen to reach Tokyo. Shinkansen, also known as bullet trains, mostly ride under the mountains in this area. The station is in between two long tunnels north of Kobe city. It is close to Mount Rokko.




When they reach Tokyo, Souta wants to stop by his flat to check some books. So they go to an apartment near Ochanomizu Station. Suzume gets the keys from the people who work at Lawson convenience store, which is on the first floor of the apartment. Lawson is one of the most popular convenience store chains in Japan.




Another real-life Tokyo location we see at Suzume is Hijiribashi. This bridge is on the Kanda River.




After Suzume reunites with her aunt in front of the Ochanomizu Station, she travels to her childhood hometown in the Tōhoku region with her aunt and Souta’s friend and with two little unexpected guests. In real life, the Tōhoku region had massive destruction by the hit of an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The world is shown through the mysterious doors called Ever-after in Suzume. Ever-After has a similar portrait to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.




It has been more than ten years since the earthquake, and with its natural beauty and history-rich sites Tōhoku Region is waiting for its guests. You can enjoy rafting, hiking, skiing, and more.




We hope you will add these places to your anime pilgrimage location list while visiting Japan. If you are interested in anime locations, you can check out Tokyo's Anime Movie Real-Life Locations article. And while traveling, for smooth internet during your travel, visit CDJapan Rental: Japan Unlimited WiFi & SIM Card Rental.

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