Tokyo's Anime Movie Real-Life Locations

Article by Özlem Burcu Öztürk

After reading this article, you may actually visit the locaions in Japan.
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1. Spirited Away - Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001)
2. 5 Centimeters Per Second - Byosoku 5 Centimeter (2007)
3. The Garden of Words - Koto no Ha no Niwa (2013)
4. The Boy and The Beast - Bakemono no Ko (2015)
5. Your name - Kimi no Na Wa (2016)
6. Weathering With You – Tenki no Ko (2019)
7. City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes (2019)
8. Suzume - Suzume no Tojimari (2022)
9. Bonus: Pokemon Manholes

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1- Spirited Away - Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001)

The location of one of the most known and loved anime of Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away, was inspired by a place in Tokyo. Edo Tokyo Tatemono is an open-air architectural museum located in Koganei.

Bar Kagiya was the inspiration for the place where Chihiro's parents ate the food and turned into pigs, was built in 1856.



Kodakara-yu is the public bathhouse(onsen) that was one of the inspirational places where Chihiro works. There are carvings of the seven gods of good luck above the entrance and a lattice ceiling in the dressing room of Kodakara-yu.



You should explore the museum to figure out what other things inspired Miyazaki and here is a surprise for you. You can explore the places with the 360-degree panoramic view option on their website before you visit there.

2- 5 Centimeters Per Second - Byosoku 5 Centimeter (2007)

As in other Makoto Shinkai films, 5 centimeters per second have many locations from real-life Tokyo. This romantic drama anime film which is about life and relationships, shows the scenery of Mount Iwafune, Sangūbashi Park, Shinjuku Station, NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building, and Shinjuku Police Station with a few changes.

3- The Garden of Words - Koto no Ha no Niwa (2013)

Also, Makoto Shinkai’s movie, The Garden of Words, has settings in Tokyo. This movie’s plot is about a young shoemaker and a mysterious older woman he meets on rainy mornings at the park. The park in The Garden of Words is based on Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, where the combination of the French, English and Japanese traditional landscape styles exists. By using the QR codes on the signboards in the garden, you can listen to audio guides in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

4- The Boy and The Beast - Bakemono no Ko (2015)

It is one of those times again, I want to go back in time and beam myself to Japan. The Boy and The Beast movie was released in 2015, and the real-life locations were so accurate that even the Shibuya tourist information center released a special map for the celebrations of the DVD release in 2016. But still, you can create your own map and mark the places.
This action-adventure story written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda is about a nine years old boy who runs away from home after his mother's death and meets a member of the Beast Kingdom on the streets of Tokyo.



The Yoyogi Park, National Yoyogi Stadium, the underpass of the south exit of Shibuya station and Shibuya scramble are the few real-life locations you should see in The Boy and The Beast movie.

5- Your name - Kimi no Na Wa (2016)

This romantic fantasy anime is about two teenagers who suddenly start swapping bodies. Things get complicated when they decide to meet each other and try to prevent a major disaster. This award-winning anime movie also has a light novel written by Makoto Shinkai, the scenarist and the director of Your Name.

Many locations in Your Name were based on real-life locations. The iconic red staircases of Suga Shrine; The pedestrian bridge of Shinanomachi Station; The Yunika Vision facility with three large LED screens to display real-time news and advertisement; The Shinjuku Station, the Guinness World Record holder for the busiest station by passenger use; the Docomo Tower, the fourth tallest building in Tokyo; Shinjuku Police Station, the largest Japanese police construction; Aogashima, a Class-C active volcano; Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery, an exhibition to teach younger generations about the Meiji era; The National Art Center, one of the largest museums in Asia, are all real-life places from Tokyo in the anime movie.

6- Weathering With You – Tenki no Ko(2019)

This romantic fantasy anime movie was also written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. It is about a boy who runs away from his hometown to go to Tokyo and an orphan girl who can control the weather. This story has a children's book adaptation, a novel adaptation, and a manga adaptation.
As in Your Name, you can see many real-life places from Tokyo in the Weathering With You. In the award-winning anime, you can see the streets of Kabukicho, the slope at the south exit of Tabata Station, the front view of Ikebukuro Police Station and the crossing of it, and a Tokyo Tower viewing spot at Minatoku Shiba Park.




But it also takes place in one of the landmarks of Tokyo, Rainbow Bridge; one of the most popular scramble crossings in Japan, Shibuya Crossing; and a place where you can enjoy the Tokyo view in the middle of the city day and night, Tokyo City View Observation Deck. Last but not least, in the anime, the shrine on top of Yoyogi Kaikan is believed by the movie's fans to be based on the Asahi Inari Shrine. This shrine is dedicated to the god of commerce.

7- City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes (2019)

Since they announced a new anime film is coming, I don’t want to forget our trustworthy guardian angel Saiba Ryu. The City Hunter world takes place in Shinjuku, and to contact him, you need to write XYZ to the messageboard at the east exit of Shinjuku station. In 2019 to celebrate the City Hunter film's release, they put a chalkboard temporarily at the east exit of Shinjuku station where you could read notes from the film's cast and crew. Who knows, maybe by the time you visit, they can put up another chalkboard, and this time you can find a chance to contact an imaginary City Hunter!

8- Suzume - Suzume no Tojimari(2022)

Even though we don’t know much about the latest movie of Makoto Shinkai, Suzume, surely it will have real-life locations from Tokyo. If you watch its trailer, you can notice NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building at the back.

This story is about a high school girl named Suzume, after she opens a door in the mountains, She needs to close and lock the "Doors of Disaster" one by one to stop the disasters throughout Japan.

Bonus: Pokemon Manholes

Haven’t we all tried to capture pokemon once or twice in our life? Well, at least with our phone apps. Here is a chance to collect some kind of pokemon while visiting Japan. There are Pokemon manholes around Japan. And there is a Pokedex in English on their website. You can find out the exact location from a map, and while you are on an anime pilgrimage, you can also take photos of Pokelids and make an album from them.

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