Summary
- The Anime Tourism Association identified over 120 Anime Pilgrimage sites from 100+ anime titles.
- The association promotes “content tourism” by showcasing settings from manga, anime, and more.
- The 2025 Anime Holy Sites list includes locations from classic and recent titles, chosen in a selection process involving fans.
The Anime Tourism Association released this year’s list of “Anime Pilgrimage Sites People Should Visit”, making the total number of such identified sites over 120 from over 100 different anime titles and franchises. The 2025 list was released on January 2024, adding locations from 15 new titles, including Natsume’s Book of Friends, Girls Band Cry, Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! and even the currently showing The Colours Within film. The list has been released by the Association each year since 2018, and is available to view on their website.
The Anime Tourism Association will also be hosting a press conference on February 13 at 14:00 JST (Japan Standard Time) for their Anime Pilgrimage Sites 88 program on their official YouTube channel.
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What’s the Anime Tourism Association?
Facilitating Contents Tourism
The Anime Tourism Association is a partnership formed in September 2016 by Kadokawa alongside various key members of Japan’s anime and travel industries, the purpose of which is the promotion of tourism motivated by the cultural exports of anime and manga. The ATA is based in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and its current president is the legendary mecha anime designer Shoji Kawamori, who succeeded Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino in the role in October 2024. The Association aims to promote what is referred to as “content tourism”, which describes tourism involving places that are the setting of works of various forms of art, such as literature, anime and manga.
One of the ways they do this is through the annual “88 Japanese Anime Spots”, also known as “Japanese Anime Holy Sites”, which they have published since 2018. The significance of the number 88 is that it refers to the 88 temples visited by the legendary Buddhist monk Kūkai (27 July 774 – 22 April 835) during his Shikoku Pilgrimage. The spots are chosen through a selection process that involves a poll of Japanese and international anime fans, with a board of directors to make a judgment on the results.
The 2025 Anime Holy Sites
Classic Titles and Recent Hits Share the Spotlight
The 2025 88 Anime Holy Sites are a mixed bag of places from classic shows and those from more recent titles, including Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night (2024), My Deer Friend Nokotan (2024), SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary (2024), A Certain Scientific Railgun (2009), Digimon Adventure (1999), Hanasaku Iroha (2011), Hyouka (2012) and more. The full list can be found in the table below. The titles with asterisks are new additions.
|
Anime Title |
Local Government |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Love Live! Sunshine!! |
Hokkaido |
Hakodate City |
|
Hakuouki Shinkai |
||
|
Kantai Collection – KanColle – |
Aomori Prefecture |
Mutsu City |
|
Backflip!! |
Miyagi Prefecture |
Iwanuma City |
|
Sanpei the Fisherman |
Akita Prefecture |
Yokote City |
|
My Oni Girl* |
Yamagata Prefecture |
Yonezawa City |
|
Hakuouki Shinkai |
Fukushima Prefecture |
Aizuwakamatsu City |
|
Ultraman Series (Birthplace of Eiji Tsuburaya) |
Sukagawa City |
|
|
Girls & Panzer Final Chapter |
Ibaraki Prefecture |
Oarai Town |
|
5 Centimeters per Second |
Tochigi Prefecture |
Tochigi City |
|
Narenare: Cheer For You!* |
Gunma Prefecture |
Takasaki City |
|
Numata City |
||
|
A Place Further Than the Universe |
Tatebayashi City |
|
|
My Dress-Up Darling |
Saitama Prefecture |
Saitama City (Iwatsuki) |
|
Tsuki ga Kirei |
Kawagoe City |
|
|
Kamisama Kiss |
||
|
AnoHana |
Chichibu City |
|
|
The Anthem of the Heart |
||
|
Her Blue Sky* |
||
|
Wasteful Days of High School Girls |
Tokorozawa City |
|
|
Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit |
Hanno City |
|
|
Goodbye My Cramer |
Warabi City |
|
|
How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend |
Wako City |
|
|
Lucky Star |
Kuki City |
|
|
The Anthem of the Heart |
Yokoze Town |
|
|
Wataten!: An Angel Flew Down to Me |
Nagatoro Town |
|
|
|
Chiba Prefecture |
Chiba City |
|
Blue Orchestra* |
||
|
Amagami SS |
Choshi City |
|
|
Trapezium* |
Tateyama City |
|
|
BanG Dream! |
Tokyo |
Arakawa Line |
|
Touch.* |
(Takadanobaba) |
|
|
Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale |
Tokyo |
|
|
STEINS;GATE |
Chiyoda Ward |
|
|
Love Live! |
||
|
Edomae Elf |
Chuo Ward |
|
|
Digimon Adventure (1999) |
Minato Ward (Odaiba) |
|
|
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club |
Minato Ward |
|
|
Lycoris Recoil |
Sumida Ward |
|
|
THE iDOLM@STER MILLION LIVE! |
Koto Ward (Toyosu) |
|
|
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club |
Koto Ward |
|
|
Bocchi the Rock! |
Setagaya Ward |
|
|
5 Centimeters per Second |
||
|
Ultraman Series (Ultraman Shopping Street) |
||
|
Love Live! Superstar!! |
Shibuya Ward |
|
|
Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night* |
||
|
My Dress-Up Darling |
Toshima Ward |
|
|
BanG Dream! |
||
|
How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend |
||
|
Durarara!! |
||
|
Digimon Adventure (1999) |
Nerima Ward (Hikarigaoka) |
|
|
A Certain Scientific Railgun |
Tachikawa City |
|
|
A Certain Magical Index |
||
|
“SHIROBAKO” the Movie |
Musashino City |
|
|
Laid-Back Camp |
Akishima City |
|
|
Gegege no Kitaro |
Chofu City |
|
|
Dropout Idol Fruit Tart |
Koganei City |
|
|
My Deer Friend Nokotan* |
Hino City |
|
|
Hakuouki Shinkai |
||
|
Wasteful Days of High School Girls |
Higashimurayama City |
|
|
GAMERA -Rebirth- |
Fussa City |
|
|
Love Live! Superstar!! |
Kozushima Village |
|
|
Bungo Stray Dogs |
Kanagawa Prefecture |
Yokohama City |
|
Girls Band Cry* |
Kawasaki City |
|
|
Slow Loop |
Yokosuka City |
|
|
High School Fleet |
||
|
Kantai Collection – KanColle – |
||
|
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai |
Fujisawa City |
|
|
Evangelion |
Hakone Town |
|
|
Yowamushi Pedal |
||
|
Do It Yourself!! |
Niigata Prefecture |
Sanjo City |
|
Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki |
Toyama Prefecture |
Kamiichi Town |
|
Hanasaku Iroha |
Ishikawa Prefecture |
Kanazawa City (Yuwaku Onsen) |
|
A Few Moments of Cheer* |
Kanazawa City |
|
|
Hakui City |
||
|
Laid-back Camp |
Yamanashi Prefecture |
Yamanashi City |
|
Minobu Town |
||
|
Super Cub |
Hokuto City |
|
|
Summer Wars |
Nagano Prefecture |
Ueda City |
|
SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary* |
Gifu Prefecture |
Gifu City |
|
Hyouka |
Takayama City |
|
|
Let’s Make a Mug Too |
Tajimi City |
|
|
Higurashi When They Cry: Graduation |
Shirakawa Village |
|
|
Monster cat Anzu-chan* |
Shizuoka Prefecture |
Izu |
|
Laid-back Camp |
Hamamatsu City |
|
|
Evangelion |
||
|
Love Live! Sunshine!! |
Numazu City |
|
|
Laid-back Camp |
Kawane Town |
|
|
Shikizakura |
Aichi prefecture |
Nagoya City |
|
Laid-back Camp |
||
|
Shikizakura |
Toyota City |
|
|
|
Toyohashi City |
|
|
Nagi no Asukara |
Mie Prefecture |
Kumano City |
|
Hakuouki Shinkai |
Kyoto Prefecture |
Kyoto City |
|
Kantai Collection – KanColle – |
Maizuru City |
|
|
Ikkyu-san (Shuonan Ikkyu-ji Temple) |
Kyotanabe City |
|
|
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya |
Hyogo Prefecture |
Nishinomiya City |
|
Hinabita♪ |
Tottori Prefecture |
Kurayoshi City |
|
Gegege no Kitaro |
Sakaiminato City |
|
|
If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die |
Okayama Prefecture |
Okayama City |
|
Kantai Collection – KanColle – |
Hiroshima Prefecture |
Kure City |
|
Tamayura |
Takehara City |
|
|
Shrine Maiden of the Morning Mist |
Miyoshi City |
|
|
Evangelion |
Yamaguchi Prefecture |
Ube City |
|
Yuuki Yuna is a Hero |
Kagawa Prefecture |
Kanonji City |
|
Teasing Master Takagi-san 3 |
Tonosho Town |
|
|
Ganbatte Ikimasshoi* |
Ehime Prefecture |
Matsuyama City |
|
Dragon and the Freckled Princess |
Kochi Prefecture |
Ochi Town |
|
Bull Buster |
Fukuoka Prefecture |
Kitakyushu City |
|
Your Color* |
Nagasaki Prefecture |
Nagasaki City |
|
Iroduku: The World in Colors |
||
|
Your Color* |
Sasebo City |
|
|
Kantai Collection – KanColle – |
||
|
GAMERA -Rebirth- |
Tsushima City |
|
|
Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion |
||
|
Your Color* |
Goto City |
|
|
Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm |
||
|
Your Color* |
Shinkamigoto Town |
|
|
Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm |
||
|
Natsume’s Book of Friends* |
Kumamoto Prefecture |
Hitoyoshi, Kuma area, etc. |
|
After School Fishing Diary |
Ashikita Town |
|
|
5 Centimeters per Second |
Kagoshima Prefecture |
Tanegashima |
|
White Sand Aquatope |
Okinawa Prefecture |
Nanjo City |
|
Ultraman Series (Tetsuo Kinjo Museum) |
Haebaru Town |
|
The official 88 Holy Sites lists of previous years can be found on the official website.