For different religions or cultures all around the world, there are sites that are considered sacred

or important
such that one of that particular religion or culture should visit them at least once during their lifetime. Pilgrimages,
they are called; the most famous of these will, of course, be Mecca for the Muslims.

For us, fans of anime, there are also places which we can so-call make pilgrimages to. Animators of our beloved
anime had traditionally used real-life locations all around Japan as the backdrop of their works. Some more
recent well-known locations for anime would be Moriguchi, Osaka as the backdrop of 'Kanon' or Kokubunji Train
Station, Tokyo as part of the setting for 'School Days'. Anime fans when they learnt about the connection
between the anime and the location, would pay visits to the place, taking photographs and making records of it.
Perhaps one could say that through these visits to the real life locations, the fans feel an attachment and
connection towards the place and anime of choice. It was similar to stepping directly into the setting of the story
itself; perhaps the closest one could get to being part of the story itself. This social phenomenon is known as
'otaku pilgrimage'.

Let us up the religious aspect of such 'pilgrimages' beyond just the pop cultural reference. Considering that
anime originated from Japan, it is common for there to be many reference to Japanese tradition; one of the most
common and popular of the featured traditions would be that of mikos and Shinto shrines. Shinto has always
played an important role in Japanese culture; thus their presence in animes set locally are not a surprise. Neither
would it be a surprise that animators had taken the liberty to use Shinto shrines from real-life as part of the
setting for some animes.

Within this article, I have taken the chance to visit two real life shrines featured in two recent, prominent animes.
Shirakawa Hachimangu Shrine is featured in the horror, suspense anime, Higurashi no Naku koro ni while
Washinomiya Shrine is featured in the popular, slice-of-life, moe comedy, Lucky Star. In doing so, I was hoping to
observe first hand how being featured and with the influx of anime fans, how and how much it would have
changed the shrine and the host town.

Shirakawa Hachimangu Shrine (白川八幡宮) (24/12/2007)　

Located in the rural, mountain-top village of Shirakawago, Gifu prefecture, Shirakawa Hachimangu Shrine was
the shrine featured prominently in Higurashi no Naku koro ni. The anime, Higurashi no Naku koro ni is a
suspense, horror story which takes place in the fictional village of Hinamizawa. Within the series, many different
variants of the sequence of events occur, each one offering a new clue towards the ultimate puzzle behind the
series of mysteries that plague the sleepy village. In fact, Hinamizawa as the village was based on Shirakawago
setting and the shrine which played an important role in the anime, was also based on the local shrine of
Shirakawa Hachimangu Shrine. When one is to wander around the village, one could easily identify the various
buildings that were referenced within the anime. However, given that the time line of the story took place in the
summer, I was not able to properly compare Shirakawa Hachimangu Shrine with its anime counterpart.
Accessing Shirakawago is not something easily accomplished. Given its isolated, mountainous location, it is
most accessible by daily buses that take hours to reach the village. These buses run by the Nohi company, set
off from on a fixed schedule depending on the time of the year from Takayama and those visiting the village
should place reservations for seats in advance. The cost for a one way trip is ¥2400 and a round ticket would
cost ¥4300. However, do not let the cost or accessibility deter one from making the trip down. Even without the
anime references, the quiet town is still very much a place worthy of visiting with its unique, traditional gassho-
zukuri farm houses that doted the village. Since 1995, the village had been listed as a historical site by the
UNESCO's World Heritage List. Peaceful and rural, it offers a much needed respite from the busy, urban centers
of Osaka and Tokyo. Plus if one is to visit during the winter as I did, one would most likely have the chance to
play with real snow given the mountainous location of the village. More information regarding the village tourist
attraction could be acquired from the Japanese National Tourism Organization (JNTO).

At the point of visit, it was winter, thus the presence of the thick layer of snow on the ground. Unfortunately, the
shrine was closed during December so I was unable to observe the shrine activities then. However, I was able to
wander around the quiet, peaceful shrine without any disturbance, of course taking care not to offend any local
deities by exploring too much or peeking into locked shacks. Mysteriously disappearing or dying would place too
much a major impediment on my next destination. Occasionally there would be well-wishers visiting the shrine
and offering their prayers.

One of the more interesting features, mostly unique to anime-featured shrines, to be noted would be the
presence of anime-inspired emas (絵馬). Emas are small wooden plaques with writings from the visitors, hung
on an ad hoc scaffold within the shrine itself. These usually contain prayers or wishes for the gods to read,
asking for things from world peace to good health. It is not unusual to find emas written in foreign languages too
as visiting tourists too leave behind their own written emas to the Japanese gods. In Shirakawa Hachimangu
Shrine, one can find emas that refer heavily to Higurashi no Naku koro ni. Some feature beautiful artworks;
others are simply hilarious in their reference towards the anime and pop culture. It was a real joy looking through
the many creative emas hung there.

Washinomiya Shrine (鷲宮神社) (27/12/2007)

Washimiya is a small, quiet, rustic town located in the Saitama prefecture, just outside Tokyo. One would hardly
consider it a tourist attraction in fact. It is just so peaceful and quiet, untouched by the mass commercialism of
Tokyo. In it lies Washinomiya Shrine, one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Saitama. Apparently the shrine is also
quite famous too, having been visited by royalties in the past and attracting up to 100,000 worshipers during the
New Year season. This particular shrine is also the shrine featured in Lucky Star. Lucky Star as an anime, is one
of those simple, enjoyable, slice-of-life animes which lacks plot but had such delightful characters and animation
that managed to amass huge popularity among the fans. The shrine's torii was shown in the anime's opening.
The Hiiragi sisters, Kagami and Tsukasa had been featured in the anime as mikos working in the shrine and the
shrine was also featured prominently during the 'new year' episode.
On August 2007, Japan Newtype actually published a guide on how people can get to the various locales of
Lucky Star from Akihabara. Naturally one of the locales provided would be Washinomiya Shrine. This resulted in
a frenzy of pilgrimages by Lucky Star fans visiting the quiet town and the shrine. Initially this was a cause of
much concern among the residents, with one of them making a blog posting against it and the entire controversy
making it to television. The head of shrine also spoke out over concerns that new worshipers were worshiping
not the shrine's deity but others, for a lack of word to describe the anime fans' target of worship. However,
eventually the local residents came to accept and even embrace the amusing phenomenon as an economical
opportunity and a chance to promote their town. After all, these new visitors are generally polite even if strange
and caused no harm or trouble. In collaboration with Kyoto Animation, they even produced limited edition Lucky
Star ema mobile phone straps and postcards that are only sold within their town. Considering how close I was to
New Year, just as it was featured in the anime, it was a perfect time to pay this shrine a visit; of course, it was a
chance for me to get my hands on those limited edition mobile phone straps.

The best way to access Washinomiya would be via the many railway/subway trains that criss-cross across
Japan. Starting from Ueno station (along the infamous JR Yamanote Line), one had to take the Tokyo Metro
Subway Hibiya Line to it's final destination, Kita-Senju station. From there onwards, one can take the Rapid
Tobu-Isesaki Line to Kuki station and make one last transfer to Washinomiya station. The entire journey would
most likely take one around an hour or more. The journey from Kita-Senju station to Washinomiya station would
cost one ¥570.

Washimiya was rather peaceful when we made our first visit. There was no obvious signs of the infamous otaku
invasion and all was normal. With the help of the town map, we managed to find our way to Washinomiya
Shrine. It was almost instantly recognizable, having seen that torii for every Lucky Star opening with Kagami
strutting her stuffs before it. We were hoping to capture shots of cosplayers recreating the scene but all there
was was a polite man attendant sweeping the floor. Right at the entrance of the shrine was a blackboard and
with it, the first concrete confirmation that we were at the right place.

Proudly displayed below the blackboard was a graphite plaque with the pictures of the Hiiragi sisters in miko
outfit and proclaimed the shrine as the Lucky Star star. On the blackboard was information regarding how one
can go about acquiring the complete set of Lucky Star ema mobile phone straps. More about that later.

The shrine was quite peaceful as they were mostly preparing for the upcoming New Year celebrations with the
various stalls being set up. There was the usual charm selling corner and a enclosure with peacocks and
chickens. The shrine itself was separated into various mini areas, each one with its own specific target of
worship and the largest, main one in the center of the entire complex.

On this quiet day, the ema-filled scaffold became the center of our anime-oriented attention. On it tied the mother
of all emas. It was here that the Lucky Star invasion of the shrine was most prominent. Emas with references to
Lucky Star (and other animes) filled the scaffold.

Having seen our share, we decided to proceed with phone straps hunting. Admittedly, none of us expected the
rule of the game to be so complicated. Apparently, in order to collect all ten designs of the phone straps, you
would basically have to traverse the entire town. Each selected shop of Washimiya, be it pharmacy, grocery
shop or even convenience store Sunkrus was allocated a specific design out of the possible ten. Thus, it became
a scavenger hunt for us all, using the camera map to navigate the town.

Of course, not exactly surprisingly, most of the phone straps were already sold out. We were very lucky to get
our hands on the last remaining three phone straps still in the 'market'. As of now, all the limited edition phone
straps are no longer available. I seemed to me that the town had actually embraced the new phenomenon of
anime pilgrimage very, very well. Through the dispersal of the phone straps, we were forced to explore their
town, visiting the various shops that we would normally had ignored. They are using this opportunity to introduce
this normally quiet, almost laid back town, to attract outsiders to their town. The warm, helpful shopkeepers that
we talked to (and cheerfully announced their lack of stocks to our disappointment) were enthusiastic about the
new opportunities this phenomenon could bring. The phone straps had sold better than any of them could have
expected (the sake shop owner who sold us the last of his stocks commented that it was strange that his shop
being the closest to the shrine itself still had stocks of the phone straps while others are all sold out. Well, his
was also sold out now, courtesy of yours truly.) ; limited edition postcards would be sold on New Year itself, they
told us encouragingly.

With the limited edition postcards in mind, it was time to make a second trip to Washinomiya Shrine on New Year
Day.

Washinomiya Shrine (鷲宮神社) (01/01/2008)

I had expected to find many Lucky Star fans purely by sight. I was disappointed. There was not a single
cosplayers in sight. That said, given that it was the New Year, the shrine was very, very crowded. The photo of
the queue does not do the scale of the queue justice. It may seem like a straight line but in fact, in true Nokia
snake style, the queue curves into the adjacent car parking lot, turns and twists a couple of times before it
straightens back to the line leading up to the shrine.

The shrine was in full festive mode now. The food and games stalls were opened for business while the New
Year rituals were in action. There was plenty of customers for the charms selling stall and the flow of people
entering the main shrine to give their prayers never stopped. At one corner of the shrine, there was a stage on
which there was a performance or a ritual dance going on. There was also plenty of cute looking mikos around
the premises of the shrine. It was a good time to try out the various shrine activities.

Omikuji (御神籤) is basically a lottery of luck of sorts. With a token fee of ¥100, one can try to pull up an omikuji
from the box. The piece of paper would predict your luck for the rest of the year, be it general, love life or health.
If you got a bad luck draw, it is custom to fold and tie the strip of paper to an oak tree in the shrine. It is
considered to put the bad luck on hold with the tree rather than carry it with you. If you got a good luck draw, feel
free to keep it with you, of course.

The scaffold had been cleared of the old emas but new ones were quickly repopulating it. There was a growing
group of people around it, pointing amusedly at certain more interesting emas and taking photographs of them.
There was also a booth dedicated to selling emas and even had a corner provided for the buyers to write on it. It
was here that I noticed the anime fans doodling anime references on the emas. The truth was that there was
plenty of anime fans within the shrine; they just simply blended into the crowd of worshipers.

It was all part of the fun of immersing oneself into the culture of the host country. We did not exactly join the long,
snaking queue towards the shrine since we already had our fair share of queues during the recently ended
Comiket 73. However, we took the chance to enjoy the ongoing matsuri, or festival; eating food that one would
not normally find here such as barbecued-squid-on-a-stick.

As further sign of the penetration of Lucky Star within the town, enterprising Washimiya residents had taken to
selling 'limited edition' Lucky Star food products at the entrance of the shrine. One can choose to buy Kagami
approved mitarashi dango, Hiiragi sisters approved rice crackers or Misao and Ayano approved cookies;
complete with photoshopped screenshots as part of the packaging. We gamely bought one of each for
ourselves. The cookies even came with an omikuji inside. Not surprisingly, they seemed to enjoy a steady flow of
customers.

Finally, as we made our purchases for the Lucky Star New Year postcards from the same sake shop, we were
greeted warmly as “The ones who bought the last Lucky Star phone straps”. Apparently we were remembered.
With a bow of thanks, we paid for our purchases and bid our farewells to the little, yet bustling town.

After thoughts

It was really quite amusing how being featured in a popular anime had changed the town and given it such a
unique identity. Shirakawago, having already been used to visitors due to its UNESCO World Heritage Site
status would simply take it in their strides; this could be why there was little attempt by the local community to
use the addition 'Hinamizawa' attraction to boost their local business. It might be useful but it is not needed.

Washimiya on the other hand, would have little to attract visitors in the first place. The sudden influx of new
visitors had originally taken them by surprise. However, the town had benefited greatly from the influx of visitors
and extra attention, just as how Shirakawago could have benefited in terms of tourism from the
Higurashi/Hinamizawa connection. The economic opportunities in terms of marketing would have been valuable
and they have truly seized the opportunity through their actions. According to reports, the shrine has attracted up
to 30 thousand people within the first three days of new year. This is more than doubled the number of visitors
the shrine received in 2007. Such was the combination of being in the news and the potent of the anime
connection.

It makes one wonder what would happened if a popular anime decided to use our local setting as part of their
setting. Singapore was already featured as the fictional setting for a Bollywood movie and one storyline of 'Birds
of Prey'. As of now, the only time when Singapore was shown as a recognizable place in an anime was during
the particular episode of Cowboy Bebop when the Merlion was shown. Perhaps with the high-spending
Japanese anime fans in mind, the government might consider campaigning for a Singapore-based anime to be
made. Or if hearsay is true, perhaps it is already in the making. I for one would greatly enjoy the chance to do my
otaku pilgrimage from home.