Plan from the city you are staying in
Anime Pilgrimage in Japan, by the City You Stay In
Twenty-three published routes, grouped by the base you will actually be sleeping in rather than by the work or the region. Each route carries the journey from that base and the time it needs once you are there, and each base says plainly what it does not reach.
The short answer
Ten of the twenty-three published routes work from a Tokyo base — seven as a day trip, three that the guides would rather you gave a night. Three work from Kyoto or Osaka, three from Fukuoka, two from Nagoya. The remaining five sit on bases of their own: Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Takamatsu and Tottori.
Every journey time and fare below is the figure the guide it links to checked with the operator. What this page adds is the grouping, the routes that combine into one day and why, and what each base does not reach. Where a guide measures its journey from a nearer base of its own, the row gives the leg from the city at the top of the section and says so.
From Tokyo 10 routes
Ten of the twenty-three work from a Tokyo base, and it is the private railways that do it rather than the shinkansen: west out of Shinjuku, north-west out of Ikebukuro, and the JR lines south and east. Seven are a day trip in the guides’ own terms. The other three are possible in a day, and each of those three says plainly what you give up by trying.
- Bocchi the Rock! — Shimokitazawa, Tokyo Day trip
- Getting there
- 7 min from Shinjuku
- Time there
- An afternoon and an evening
- Slam Dunk — Kamakura and Enoshima, Kanagawa Day trip
- Getting there
- About 1 h from Tokyo Station
- Time there
- One day
- Food for the Soul — Hachioji and Mount Takao, Tokyo Day trip
- Getting there
- About 50 min from Shinjuku
- Time there
- One day for Takao; the city is a separate half-day
- anohana — Chichibu, Saitama Day trip
- Getting there
- 77 min from Ikebukuro
- Time there
- One day on foot
- Botan Kamiina — Chichibu and Nagatoro, Saitama Day trip
- Getting there
- 77 min from Ikebukuro
- Time there
- One day for the town, two with Nagatoro
- Love Live! Sunshine!! — Numazu Day trip
- Getting there
- About 1 h to Numazu Station, then 35 min and 1,040 yen by bus
- Time there
- One day
- mono — Kofu and Yamanashi Day trip for the Kofu walk only
- Getting there
- About 1 h 30 from Shinjuku to Kofu
- Time there
- 2 nights, 3 days for a fair share of the map
- Yuru Camp — Yamanashi & Shizuoka Better with a night
- Getting there
- About 1 h 30 Shinjuku to Kofu
- Time there
- 2 nights, 3 days
- Initial D — Gunma Better with a night
- Getting there
- About 50 min Tokyo to Takasaki by shinkansen
- Time there
- 1 night, 2 days
- Girls und Panzer — Oarai, Ibaraki Better with a night
- Getting there
- About 1 h 30 from Ueno via Mito
- Time there
- 1 night, 2 days
One free day
Kamakura and Enoshima, about an hour from Tokyo Station. The Enoshima Electric Railway runs Fujisawa to Kamakura in about thirty-seven minutes, and the Slam Dunk guide’s own advice is to see the level crossing first and then choose either Enoshima or the Hase temples — both in one day is a rush, and two days is what it takes to do each of them properly.
One free evening and no free day
Shimokitazawa, seven minutes from Shinjuku. It is an afternoon and an evening rather than a day, the district is fifteen minutes end to end on foot, and the one thing to arrange before you travel is a ticket: the live house most readers come for can only be entered with a ticket for that night’s show.
Two guides, one trip
anohana and Botan Kamiina both ride the Seibu Laview limited express from Ikebukuro to Seibu-Chichibu, fastest seventy-seven minutes, and both are set in Chichibu. One day in the town serves both guides. Nagatoro, which only Botan Kamiina uses, is the second day — and Seibu and the Chichibu Railway are separate tickets.
One place, two guides
Enoshima. Bocchi the Rock! uses it for episode 9 and says to give it a day of its own; Slam Dunk reaches it along the Enoden from Kamakura. Shinjuku is also where the Odakyu services for Enoshima start, so either guide can be the one you follow down there.
What this base does not reach: Everything the guides put on another base. Uji, Toyosato, Kada, Toyohashi, Hida-Furukawa, Karatsu, Hita, Kumamoto, Takehara, Shodoshima, Otaru, Sendai and Hokuei are each written from a base of their own, and no guide on this site offers any of them as a day trip from Tokyo. Hida-Furukawa is the one most often assumed to be in range: the guide’s figure is two hours forty from Nagoya, not from Tokyo.
From Kyoto or Osaka 3 routes
Three routes sit inside the Kansai hour: two from Kyoto in opposite directions, and one from Osaka that finishes on a boat.
- Sound! Euphonium — Uji, Kyoto Day trip
- Getting there
- JR Nara Line south from Kyoto
- Time there
- One day for either route
- K-ON! — Toyosato, Shiga Day trip
- Getting there
- 49 min Kyoto to Hikone, then Ohmi Railway, 460 yen
- Time there
- Half a day
- Summer Time Rendering — Tomogashima and Kada, Wakayama Day trip
- Getting there
- Osaka to Wakayamashi first; then Wakayamashi to Kada on the Nankai Kada line, 370 yen, and a 20-min walk to the ferry
- Time there
- One day
Two from Kyoto, opposite ways
Uji is south on the JR Nara line, ten minutes on foot from JR Uji to Uji Bridge, and the guide gives a full day to either of the two routes it lays out. Toyosato is north-east: forty-nine minutes Kyoto to Hikone, then the Ohmi Railway at 460 yen, and half a day once you are there. If you only have one day for this direction, Toyosato is the one that leaves you an afternoon.
The one with a boat
Tomogashima. Osaka to Wakayamashi first, then the Nankai Kada line to Kada at 370 yen and a twenty-minute walk to the pier. The ferry is 2,800 yen return and may not run; the guide treats that, not the trains, as the thing that decides the day.
What this base does not reach: Hokuei is the nearest route that is still not a day trip from here: the guide’s figure is three hours ten from Osaka to Kurayoshi, and it recommends a night. Toyohashi and Hida-Furukawa are written from Nagoya.
From Fukuoka 3 routes
Three routes in three directions from one base, and only one of them is a day trip. These three are also everything Kyushu has a guide for so far.
- Zombie Land Saga — Karatsu and Yobuko, Saga Day trip
- Getting there
- 70 to 95 min from Hakata
- Time there
- One day
- Attack on Titan — Hita, Oita Better with a night
- Getting there
- Highway bus from Fukuoka Airport, about 1 h 20
- Time there
- 1 night, 2 days
- ONE PIECE — Kumamoto Better with a night
- Getting there
- About 30 min Hakata to Kumamoto by shinkansen
- Time there
- 2 nights, 3 days for all ten statues
The day trip
Karatsu and Yobuko, seventy to ninety-five minutes from Hakata. Nothing in it needs a car — the Showa Bus to Yobuko is 850 yen each way — and the Yobuko timetable is what the day has to be built around. One thing to know before you go: the special opening of the Karatsu City History and Folklore Museum that had been set for 24 and 25 October 2026 was postponed, and the city has not yet published a new date.
The two that want a night
Hita is about an hour twenty by highway bus from Fukuoka Airport and the guide asks for one night; a 100 yen circulator, one bus line and share cycles mean you can do it without a car, and one thin bus timetable decides the day. Kumamoto is thirty minutes from Hakata by shinkansen and the guide asks for two nights, because all ten statues are the point of going.
What this base does not reach: Nothing else in Kyushu, because nothing else in Kyushu has a guide here yet. Shodoshima and Takehara are across the water and are written from Takamatsu and Hiroshima.
From Nagoya 2 routes
Two routes, and they are different kinds of trip: one you can treat as a stop on the way, one you go north for.
- Too Many Losing Heroines! — Toyohashi, Aichi Day trip
- Getting there
- Tokaido Shinkansen stops at Toyohashi
- Time there
- One day for the station area
- Your Name — Hida, Gifu Day trip from Takayama
- Getting there
- About 2 h 40 from Nagoya on the Limited Express Hida; 15 min on from Takayama
- Time there
- One day, or 1 night 2 days
If you are passing through
Toyohashi is the only route on this page you can treat as a stop rather than a destination: the Tokaido Shinkansen stops there, the streetcar is a flat 200 yen, and the station area, Futagawa and Nonhoi Park are all reachable without a car. The coast and the Oku-Mikawa hills are not.
If you are going north
Hida-Furukawa is two hours forty from Nagoya on the Limited Express Hida up the Takayama Main Line, and fifteen minutes beyond Takayama. That is why the guide gives you two bases rather than one: Takayama if you want a choice of hotels, Furukawa if you want the quiet version. The town centre is walkable; the Ochiai bus stop needs a car or a taxi, and the bus there is very limited.
What this base does not reach: Yamanashi and Chichibu, which look close on a map but are written from Tokyo, and Uji and Toyosato, which are written from Kyoto.
One route each: Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Tottori 5 routes
Five routes where the base is either the route itself or somewhere you have to go on purpose. Four of them are a day once you are there. The fifth is the one route on this site that does not work comfortably as a day trip from anywhere.
- Golden Kamuy — Otaru and Sapporo, Hokkaido Day trip
- Getting there
- Into the region: New Chitose Airport to Sapporo, 37 min, 1,230 yen. Each day then starts from Sapporo
- Time there
- Each day is a return trip from Sapporo
- Haikyu!! — Sendai and Akiu, Miyagi Day trip
- Getting there
- Tohoku Shinkansen to Sendai; 25 min from the airport
- Time there
- Each route is a day from Sendai
- Tamayura — Takehara, Hiroshima Day trip
- Getting there
- 1,400 yen by bus from Hiroshima, or 510 yen from Mihara
- Time there
- One day; two with Okunoshima
- Teasing Master Takagi-san — Shodoshima, Kagawa Day trip
- Getting there
- Ferry from Takamatsu Port
- Time there
- One day
- Detective Conan — Tottori Better with a night
- Getting there
- 40 min by car from the airport, or 3 h 10 Osaka to Kurayoshi
- Time there
- Half a day for Conan Town; 1 night 2 days recommended
Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Takamatsu
Golden Kamuy is Otaru and Sapporo and every day is a return trip from Sapporo — New Chitose Airport to Sapporo is thirty-seven minutes and 1,230 yen, and after that it is a train, one city bus in Otaru and one bus to the village; winter daylight is the limit. Haikyu!! is Sendai and Akiu, each route a day from Sendai, twenty-five minutes from the airport, subway day ticket 840 yen and 620 at weekends, with Akiu a 940 yen bus each way and a separate day. Tamayura is Takehara, 1,400 yen by bus from Hiroshima or 510 yen from Mihara, and a day on foot there; Okunoshima adds the Kure line at 200 yen each way and a ferry, which makes it two. Teasing Master Takagi-san is Shodoshima, a ferry from Takamatsu Port and a day on the island, with the Olive Bus to Angel Road taking IC cards — and Angel Road only appears at low tide, so the tide table decides when you go, not the bus.
Tottori, the one that needs its own night
Detective Conan is Hokuei, and it is the route with no comfortable base nearby. The guide’s figures are forty minutes by car from the airport, or three hours ten from Osaka to Kurayoshi; Conan Town itself is half a day, and the guide recommends a night and two days. If you are planning for 2027, read the dates first: the current Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory building closes after 11 January 2027, and a new one is planned for spring 2027.
The other three ways in
This page starts from where you will be sleeping. The other three start somewhere else, and for some trips one of them is the better door: the work finder starts from the title, Destinations starts from the region, and the trip-shape comparison puts all twenty-three side by side on four figures — the journey, the time on the ground, how far you get without a car, and the one thing most likely to break the plan.