Experiencing Numazu: The city that lives and breathes Love Live! Sunshine!! (Part 2)

Part 2 of 3 in my Numazu series. This second part recounts my most comprehensive Numazu visit, when I stayed there for two full days in September 2018 and got to know the city better. It includes detailed pilgrimages in Uchiura west of the Izu-Mito Sea Paradise tunnel (school, Bentenjima Shrine, etc.) and in Numazu Harbor as well as more of central Numazu. Some shops associated with Love Live! Sunshine!! but not featured in the anime are also highlighted. Continue reading

Experiencing Numazu: The city that lives and breathes Love Live! Sunshine!! (Part 1)

Part 1 of 3 in my Numazu series. This first part recounts my visit to Numazu in March 2018, where I participated in the “Escape from the Solitary Island’s Aquarium: Take Back the Lost Treasure!” game on the island of Awashima. Additionally, I visited locations seen in the anime on Awashima, and briefly those in central Numazu and in Uchiura east of the Izu-Mito Sea Paradise tunnel (Mito Beach etc.). Continue reading

Visiting Clannad locations in Hamura, Mizuho… and Setagaya

(This report includes snapshot-like descriptions of story events to help connect locations to anime scenes, but no major spoilers.) I love Clannad. It would thus be natural for me to want to visit the Japanese city it's set in. While the original 2004 visual novel doesn't really provide townscape views, Kyoto Animation's anime adaptation located … Continue reading Visiting Clannad locations in Hamura, Mizuho… and Setagaya →

Chronicling Uji, home of Hibike! Euphonium

Living in Kyoto for a year from 2017 to 2018, I had the privilege of being just a short train ride away from neighboring Uji City, setting of the Hibike! Euphonium anime, and actually of the original novels as well. I visited the city thrice during the year, my itinerary slightly different each time. To give this report some travel flavor, I shall detail each visit separately, focusing on the new things and on what changed since the last visit. Continue reading

[Translation] Pre-Kōhaku Kinchan interview on Yahoo News

The following is a translation of an article published on Yahoo News in the last days of 2018. It features an interview with Kanako Takatsuki (nickname Kinchan), the voice actress playing Hanamaru Kunikida in the Love Live! Sunshine!! project. The original article is no longer available on Yahoo News, but it has been reposted to … Continue reading [Translation] Pre-Kōhaku Kinchan interview on Yahoo News →

[Translation] Kinchan interviewed on the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Sankei News

The following is a translation of this article, published on the web edition of the Japanese newspaper, Sankei Shimbun on 8 January 2020. It features an interview with Kanako Takatsuki (nickname Kinchan), the voice actress playing Hanamaru Kunikida in the Love Live! Sunshine!! project. [25 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake] Affected at the age … Continue reading [Translation] Kinchan interviewed on the Great Hanshin Earthquake in Sankei News →

The K-On! Comiket: Report from Sakura High New Students’ Welcome Ceremony 2018

In May 2018, I went to a K-On event in Japan that no one had written about before in English. The Sakura High New Students’ Welcome Ceremony, or the Shinkan is a K-On exclusive doujinshi market with some related events going on during the day. You can picture it as a miniature Comiket specializing in K-On. This post is a report/documentation hybrid, documenting what this event is like, but also reporting on my personal experiences there. Continue reading