Zombie Land Saga Pilgrimage in Karatsu & Yobuko

Header photo: Karatsu Castle above the water, photographed in 2017. Photo: SuperTaiyaki, CC BY 2.0 (resized). Source.

Karatsu is a castle town on the Genkai Sea in the north-west of Saga Prefecture, and its 1908 coal-company office is the model for the mansion of the zombie idols’ producer in Zombie Land Saga. The building is closed and waiting for restoration, so this guide is honest about what you can see — the outside, and three official manhole covers — and builds a car-free day around it from Fukuoka, with the castle, the town’s burger and its souvenirs. A second day adds Yobuko, a squid port 35 minutes away by bus, with its morning market, the third manhole and a squid lunch.

Why This Place Matters in Zombie Land Saga

The series, the sequel and the film

Zombie Land Saga is an original anime, not an adaptation: seven girls brought back as zombies form a local idol group, Franchouchou, to save Saga Prefecture. The original creator is credited as 広報広聴課ゾンビ係 (“the zombie section of the public relations office”), and the studio MAPPA made Revenge and the film, the official staff list and film site show. The first series ran from October to December 2018 in 12 episodes, and Zombie Land Saga Revenge followed from April to June 2021, also in 12, Karatsu City notes. The film, Zombie Land Saga: Yumeginga Paradise (ゾンビランドサガ ゆめぎんがパラダイス), opened in Japanese cinemas on 24 October 2025. This guide describes places, not plots, and gives nothing away about the film.

What is official, and what is not

The series is set across the whole prefecture; Karatsu is one part of it. Three things tie the town to the work on official pages. The official site calls the Karatsu City History and Folk Museum — the former Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha Karatsu Branch — the model for the mansion of Kotaro Tatsumi, the group’s producer. The city has three manhole covers designed for the series, donated by the production committee. And in December 2024 the series released a song about the town, Sukicchan! Karachu (すきっちゃん！からチュッ), whose music video shows the group dancing at Karatsu sights including Karatsu Castle.

Other places in this guide — the castle, the shrine, the parks with manholes, the market — are here because they are worth the trip, not because this guide has matched them to scenes. A manhole cover in a park does not make the park a location from the series.

Events that have ended

• The 2019 official bus tour (16 and 17 February 2019), which included a special entry to the museum building, the official site says.
• The live show of 27 July 2019, Zombie Land Saga LIVE ~Franchouchou Minna de Orabou!~ in SAGA, held at Arpino by Karatsu Station, the official site records.
• The KARACHU campaign that came with the 2024 song, and the winter campaign of 27 December 2025 to 1 March 2026, with cards at shops, the castle and the shrine, the tourism association’s notice shows. Both are over; nothing from them is handed out today.

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Anime Pilgrimage Spots

The official places sit in two groups: the museum building and its manhole on the coast north-west of the centre, 10 minutes by car from the station, and the rest in the walkable centre around Karatsu Station and Karatsu Bus Center at Oteguchi. The third manhole is in Yobuko, for the second day.

Please respect local rules and manners at every location, and follow signs and staff guidance.

The former Mitsubishi building (the mansion’s model)

The former Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha Karatsu Branch main building (旧三菱合資会社唐津支店本館), now the Karatsu City History and Folk Museum (唐津市歴史民俗資料館), was built in 1908 as the office of Mitsubishi’s coal business, on a site overlooking the port the coal was shipped from. Its spired hip-and-gable roof and the veranda on the sea side make it a Saga Prefecture Important Cultural Property, the city says.

It is closed, and you see it from outside. The building has been shut because of its age, and the city is preparing a full restoration on site: detailed design in FY2026 and restoration work in FY2027–FY2030 (Japanese financial years, April to March), on its project page. No reopening date has been announced. Look from the street and the gate, and do not go over walls or fences.

The three official manhole covers

Karatsu has three covers drawn for the series, part of a project to install them in all 20 cities and towns of Saga Prefecture. The city’s pages give the place and the date for each; they do not give a position within each park, so the map below gives each one as an address search, not a pin.

• Tae Yamada, with Karatsu Castle and Karatsu Kunchi: in Daimyo-koji Children’s Park (大名小路児童公園, 1-2 Daimyo-koji), installed on 23 April 2021, the city says. The park is in the centre, close to the bus centre at Oteguchi.
• Sakura Minamoto, with the museum building: in the museum’s green space (民俗資料館緑地, 7181-63 Kaigan-dori), installed on 8 June 2021, on the same page. During a special opening the green space in front of the museum is opened as a temporary car park for about ten cars, and the city asks visitors to use public transport where they can, its notice says. That goes with the opening, which is postponed.
• Kotaro Tatsumi and Romero, with Yobuko squid, the Genkai Sea and Nanatsugama: at the Yobuko morning market’s Ikoi no Hiroba square (呼子朝市いこいの広場), installed on 18 November 2022, the city says.

The city asks visitors to avoid crowding, not to get in the way of people using the parks and square, and to take care not to bump into other people or catch them in photos. Its pages also say their images may not be reused, so this guide shows none of the designs.

Arpino, the 2019 live venue

Arpino (唐津市ふるさと会館アルピノ), 2 minutes on foot from Karatsu Station, hosted the 2019 live show. Today it is the town’s souvenir hall, with a café; it opens from 9:00 to 18:00 and closes on the third Thursday of odd-numbered months and on 1 January, its own page says. The live show is history, so treat Arpino as the place to start and end the day.

Karatsu Castle, in the 2024 music video

Karatsu Castle (唐津城) stands on a wooded hill above the sea, about 20 minutes on foot from the station, the tourism association says. The present keep was completed in 1966, on the same page, and it is one of the sights in the 2024 music video. The keep opens from 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:40) and closes from 29 to 31 December; adults pay 500 yen and children 250, the castle’s site says; the tourism association adds that hours can change with the season. An elevator up the hill in Maizuru Park costs adults 100 yen each way. The view of the town and the sea is the point; the keep’s floors are optional.

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How to Get There

Both routes start in central Karatsu: JR Karatsu Station by train, or Karatsu Bus Center at Oteguchi (Showa Bus timetables name the stop 大手口（唐津バスセンター）), a short walk from the station, by highway bus. From Fukuoka there are two ways in, and neither needs a reservation.

From Fukuoka by train: subway and the JR Chikuhi line

The Fukuoka City Subway’s Airport line runs west from Hakata and Tenjin to Meinohama, where trains run through onto the JR Chikuhi line; some go all the way to Karatsu, others need a change at Chikuzen-Maebaru. The through fare from Hakata or Tenjin to Karatsu is 1,290 yen (children 640), and 1,330 yen from Fukuoka Airport, on the subway’s route search. Examples from the same search:

• Weekdays: the 8:27 from Hakata reaches Karatsu at 9:59, changing at Chikuzen-Maebaru; back, the 16:54 from Karatsu reaches Hakata at 18:20.
• Saturdays: the 8:23 from Hakata runs through to Karatsu by 9:32; back, the 16:41 reaches Hakata at 18:10.

Rail passes: Hakata to Meinohama is the Fukuoka City Subway, a separate operator from JR, so check the terms of any rail pass you hold before counting on it for that part of the trip. If you are not using a pass and are making a day trip, JR Kyushu’s 2-mai kippu (a pair of tickets) covers Karatsu or Nishi-Karatsu to Tenjin, Hakata or Fukuoka Airport via the subway for 2,500 yen (children 1,250), valid for 7 days from the date you choose. It is sold only at JR Kyushu stations, not online, and has to be bought before you board. For one adult’s return from Hakata or Tenjin it costs 80 yen less than two single fares (2,580 yen).

From Fukuoka by bus: the Karatsu-go

Showa Bus’s Karatsu-go (からつ号) highway bus runs from Hakata Bus Terminal and the Nishitetsu Tenjin Expressway Bus Terminal to Oteguchi and on to Arpino-mae, by Karatsu Station. The fare to Oteguchi or Arpino-mae is 1,200 yen from Tenjin or Hakata and 1,460 yen from Fukuoka Airport’s domestic terminal, on the fare table from 1 October 2026 (the Karatsu-go fares did not change). Times from the timetable revised on 1 April 2026:

• Weekdays: the 8:43 from Hakata (Tenjin 9:02) reaches Oteguchi at 10:18. Back, the 16:55 from Arpino-mae, by the station, reaches Tenjin Nichigin-mae at 18:10 and Hakata at 18:20; earlier, the 14:25 reaches Hakata at 15:50.
• Weekends and holidays: the 9:13 from Hakata (Tenjin 9:32) reaches Oteguchi at 10:48. Back, the 16:55 from Arpino-mae also reaches Hakata at 18:20, and the 14:55 at 16:20.
• From the airport: a few buses leave the domestic terminal directly, such as the 10:53 every day, at Oteguchi at 12:48.

• No reservations, and no boarding when the bus is full — you wait for the next one, Showa Bus warns.
• Coupons: a pair of Karatsu–Tenjin/Hakata coupons costs 2,000 yen on paper (no expiry) or 1,800 yen as smartphone tickets on Showa Bus’s Altair site (valid six months), on the same fare table.

Train or bus?

	Subway and JR	Karatsu-go bus
From Hakata, one way	1,290 yen; 2,500 yen for the pair of tickets	1,200 yen; 2,000 yen (paper) or 1,800 yen (smartphone) for a pair
Time on the examples above	About 70 to 95 minutes	About 95 minutes from Hakata, 75 from Tenjin
Arrives at	Karatsu Station	Oteguchi, then Arpino-mae by the station
Good for	An early start, and Saturdays’ through trains	Tenjin, and a seat without changing

During Karatsu Kunchi, 2 to 4 November

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Best Way to Get Around

On foot in central Karatsu

The centre is a walk: Arpino is 2 minutes from the station, Karatsu Shrine 15 minutes and Karatsu Castle 20, on Arpino’s and the tourism association’s figures. Karatsu Bus Center at Oteguchi and Daimyo-koji Children’s Park are between the station and the shrine; the map shows how close.

To the museum building: bus or train, not a long walk

The museum building is 10 minutes by car from Karatsu Station, the city says, so ride most of the way rather than walk:

• By bus: Showa Bus’s Yobuko line (呼子線, route 11) from Karatsu Station or Oteguchi to Myoken-jinja-shita (妙見神社下), about 10 minutes, then about 10 minutes on foot, the city says. The fare is 230 yen each way on the fare table from 1 October 2026. On the timetable that Showa Bus links (revised 1 April 2024), buses leave Karatsu Station at 36 minutes past the hour from 9:36 to 16:36, every day, reaching Myoken-jinja-shita 11 minutes later; coming back, they pass Myoken-jinja-shita at 58 minutes past the hour from 8:58 to 16:58, reaching Oteguchi 7 minutes and the station 10 minutes later.
• By train: JR Nishi-Karatsu Station, one stop from Karatsu, is about 15 minutes on foot from the building, on the same city page. On the Saturday JR Kyushu timetable checked, two or three trains an hour ran from Karatsu to Nishi-Karatsu in the daytime; check the day’s times and fare there.

To Yobuko

The same Yobuko line runs on to Yobuko (呼子), 34 minutes from Karatsu Station, for 850 yen each way. Every day the 8:46 from Karatsu Station reaches Yobuko at 9:20, with a bus about every hour after that; back, buses leave Yobuko at 35 minutes past the hour, and the 13:35 and 14:35 reach Karatsu Station at 14:08 and 15:08. At Obon (13 to 15 August) and over the New Year, the weekend and holiday timetable applies.

Showa Bus also sells two passes, on its ticket page: the Kara 1day Free Pass, 24 hours on its Karatsu-area buses, and the Kara 2day Free Pass, 36 hours including the Karatsu-go. Their prices were not confirmed for this guide, so compare them with the single fares — 2,160 yen of local buses in Route B, or 4,560 yen with the Karatsu-go both ways — before you buy.

Car

Not needed for either route. The museum building, the manholes and Yobuko are all reached by bus.

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What to Eat and Drink

In Karatsu

• Karatsu Burger (からつバーガー), the town’s own burger. Its Nakamachi branch, about 350 metres from Karatsu Station, opens from 10:00 to 19:00 with irregular closing days and takes cash and e-money, its page says.
• Arpino’s café, 10:00 to 17:00 (last order 16:30), Arpino says — the easy choice if you are already by the station.

Squid in Yobuko

Yobuko is a squid town; the 2024 song’s lyrics name Yobuko ika, Yobuko squid, the official site notes. One place to eat it is Kawataro (河太郎), which describes itself as the restaurant where Yobuko’s live squid sashimi began; its Yobuko branch keeps the squid in tanks and prepares it to order, its page says:

• Hours: Monday to Friday 11:00 to 17:00 (last order 16:00, last entry 15:30); weekends and holidays 10:00 to 19:00 (last order 18:00, last entry 17:30). The last entry can be brought forward. Closed at Obon and over the New Year.
• No reservations as a rule; waiting times are posted on its X account. Cash only.
• Weather: in bad weather there may be no squid.
• Getting there: about 17 minutes on foot from the Yobuko bus stop. Kawataro also names a closer stop, Yobuko Daiba Minato Plaza, which the route 11 timetable used here does not list.

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Beyond the Anime

Karatsu Shrine and Karatsu Kunchi

Karatsu Shrine (唐津神社), known for the white torii at its entrance, is said to date from the eighth century, and its autumn festival is Karatsu Kunchi, when 14 great floats are pulled through the town from 2 to 4 November, the tourism association says. Entry is free, and the same page lists 9:00 to 17:00. Tae Yamada’s manhole cover carries the castle and the festival, but this guide does not treat the shrine as a scene from the series.

The 14 floats themselves are on show in the Hikiyama Exhibition Hall (曳山展示場), housed for now in the Arpino building by the station: 9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:40), adults 310 yen, closed 29 to 31 December, the city says; the tourism association adds that it closes on 3 and 4 November, when the floats are out.

Karatsu ware

Karatsu has made pottery since about the 1580s, and its rough, earthy ware has long been prized for the tea ceremony; about 70 kilns work in and around the city today, the tourism association says. Arpino has a Karatsu ware exhibition and sales floor upstairs, its page shows.

The Yobuko morning market

The Yobuko morning market (呼子朝市) fills a street by the port from 7:30 to 12:00 every day except 1 January, with seafood, dried fish, vegetables, fruit and pickles; stall opening times vary, and the street is closed to cars, the market and the tourism association say. It is a minute on foot from the Yobuko bus stop. The third manhole is in its Ikoi no Hiroba square, the city says.

Kagamiyama and Niji-no-Matsubara

Two places in the 2024 song are worth knowing about but are not in these routes: Kagamiyama (鏡山), the hill named in the lyrics, which is not a walk from the station, and Niji-no-Matsubara (虹の松原), the pine forest along the shore east of the town. Treat them as a separate trip, and check how to get there before you go.

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Souvenirs

At Arpino

Arpino’s ground-floor shop is the town’s souvenir hall; its site features Miyata’s shoro manju (宮田の松露饅頭), Saga-nishiki (さが錦) and Matsuura-zuke (松浦漬). It is open until 18:00, after the castle and the float hall close, so leave it for the end of the day.

Series goods

This guide could not confirm a shop in Karatsu that sells Zombie Land Saga goods today. The campaign goods and cards of 2024 to 2026 were limited to their campaigns, which have ended.

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Where to Stay

This guide names no hotels and gives no prices. For Route B, what matters is reaching the 8:46 bus to Yobuko.

Karatsu

The simplest base: stay near Karatsu Station, where the 8:46 starts, and the morning market is yours by 9:20.

Fukuoka

Works for Route A as a day trip. Route B’s second day starts with the 8:46 bus from Karatsu Station, so sleeping in Karatsu is simpler than an early train from Fukuoka.

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Suggested Itinerary

Route A is Karatsu in a day: the museum side by bus in the morning, then the centre on foot. Route B keeps that day, adds a night in Karatsu, and spends the second morning in Yobuko. Both days start and end at Karatsu Station; the trip from Fukuoka and back is shown on its own row.

Which route	A — Karatsu in a day	B — two days, with Yobuko
Days and start	One day, from and back to Karatsu Station	Two days, both from Karatsu Station, with a night in Karatsu
Time	About 5 to 7 hours in Karatsu, from about 10:00 to about 17:00. A planning estimate	Day 1 as A; day 2 about 5 to 6 hours from Karatsu Station (the 8:46 bus out, the 13:35 back), an hour more on the 14:35
What you see	The museum building from outside and two manholes, Arpino, Karatsu Shrine, Karatsu Castle and, if you like, the float hall	All of A, plus the Yobuko morning market, the third manhole, the port and a squid lunch
Transport	Walking, and the Yobuko-line bus to Myoken-jinja-shita and back	The same, plus the Yobuko-line bus to Yobuko and back
Fares in Karatsu, per adult	Bus 230 yen each way: 460 yen. Castle keep 500 yen and float hall 310 yen if you go in	Day 1 as A; day 2 bus 850 yen each way: 1,700 yen
From Fukuoka and back	Train 1,290 yen each way from Hakata (2,580 yen), or the Karatsu-go 1,200 yen each way (2,400 yen)	The same fares, out on day 1 and back on day 2
Check first	The museum building is closed (outside only); Arpino’s closing day; no Kunchi days (2 to 4 November)	The same, plus the market’s 12:00 close and Kawataro’s wait and weather
Car	Not needed	Not needed

A — Karatsu in a day

• About 10:00 at Karatsu Station — on weekdays the 8:27 train from Hakata arrives at 9:59, and the 8:43 bus from Hakata reaches Oteguchi at 10:18. Walk to Oteguchi and look for Tae Yamada’s manhole in Daimyo-koji Children’s Park on the way.
• 10:40 from Oteguchi (10:36 from the station) to Myoken-jinja-shita, 10:47, and about 10 minutes on foot to the former Mitsubishi building: the outside from the street and gate, and Sakura Minamoto’s manhole in the green space by it.
• 11:58 back from Myoken-jinja-shita to Oteguchi (12:05) or the station (12:08), for lunch: Karatsu Burger’s Nakamachi branch, or Arpino’s café.
• Early afternoon, Karatsu Shrine, then on to Karatsu Castle for the view, with the keep if you want it (last entry 16:40).
• Late afternoon, back to the station for Arpino’s shop, and the float hall if you have time (last entry 16:40). Leave on the 16:54 train (Hakata 18:20) on weekdays, the 16:41 (18:10) on Saturdays, or the 16:55 Karatsu-go from Arpino-mae (Hakata 18:20, every day).

Arriving later? At weekends the 9:13 bus from Hakata reaches Oteguchi at 10:48; take the 11:40 from Oteguchi out (Myoken-jinja-shita 11:47) and the 12:58 back, and eat after. On Saturdays the 8:23 train arrives at 9:32, so the 9:36 bus from the station is possible but tight; the 10:36 is the safe choice.

B — two days, with Yobuko

• Day 1: Route A, and a night in Karatsu.
• Day 2, out: the 8:46 bus from Karatsu Station (every day) reaches Yobuko at 9:20. The morning market is a minute away and runs until 12:00; the third manhole is in its Ikoi no Hiroba square. Then walk along the port.
• Lunch: Kawataro, about 17 minutes on foot from the Yobuko stop, opens at 11:00 on weekdays and 10:00 at weekends. Go early to keep the wait short, and bring cash.
• Day 2, back: the 13:35 from Yobuko reaches Oteguchi at 14:05 and Karatsu Station at 14:08, or the 14:35 at 15:05 and 15:08. After the 13:35, take the 14:49 train (Hakata 16:11) on weekdays or the 14:43 (16:14) on Saturdays; or, by bus, the 14:25 Karatsu-go from Arpino-mae on weekdays (Hakata 15:50) or the 14:55 at weekends (16:20).

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Travel Tips and Etiquette

At the manholes and the museum building

• Parks and squares are for the people using them. Do not crowd round the covers, do not get in the way of people using the park or square, and keep other people out of your photos, as the city asks.
• Stay outside the museum building’s gate and fences. It is closed because of its age and is waiting for restoration, on the city’s page.
• No rubbing or tracing of the covers, and leave nothing on them.

In Yobuko

• The market street is a working market. Ask before you photograph a stall or its owner, and keep moving when it is busy; the street is closed to cars, the market says.
• Check the bus back before you sit down to lunch: on the timetable, buses leave Yobuko at 35 minutes past the hour.

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Plan Your Trip

Do this first

• Pick a day outside 2 to 4 November, when Karatsu Kunchi moves the bus stops, Showa Bus says, unless you are coming for the festival.
• Choose train or bus from Fukuoka, and note your times back: the subway’s route search or the Karatsu-go timetable.
• Keep the Yobuko-line times — the 8:46 and then 36 minutes past the hour from Karatsu Station, 58 past back from Myoken-jinja-shita, 35 past from Yobuko — and the fares with you.
• Look at the city’s pages for the museum building before you go, in case anything changes.

Combine it with another guide

The other Kyushu guides on this site, Attack on Titan in Hita and One Piece in Kumamoto, also start from Fukuoka but in different directions, so none is suggested as a pairing; treat each as its own trip. Every published guide is listed on All published guides, and by region on Destinations.

How this guide was put together

This guide was researched and planned from published sources rather than written up from a visit. Checked on 17 October 2026: the official Zombie Land Saga and film sites; Karatsu City’s pages on the museum building, its restoration and special opening, the manholes and the float hall; the Karatsu Tourism Association for the castle, the shrine, the market, Karatsu ware and the ended campaigns; Karatsu Castle, Arpino, Karatsu Burger, the Yobuko morning market and Kawataro on their own pages; Showa Bus for the Yobuko line, the Karatsu-go, fares, tickets and the Kunchi changes; the Fukuoka City Subway route search for trains and fares; and JR Kyushu for its timetable and the 2-mai kippu.

What is an estimate, and what could not be confirmed. The 5-to-7-hour and 5-to-6-hour figures and the time spent at each place are editorial planning estimates built from the published times, not official durations. The manholes’ exact positions within the park, the green space and the square are not published, so the map gives them as address searches. The JR fare and weekday times between Karatsu and Nishi-Karatsu, the prices of Showa Bus’s passes, whether Kawataro’s nearer bus stop is served by the route 11 buses, and whether any shop in Karatsu sells series goods today were not confirmed.

Written and edited by Nick, who runs Anime Routes Japan from Japan. More about Nick, and about how these guides are made, is on the About page.

Opening hours, timetables and fares change, and the museum building’s plans may move. Confirm the ones your day depends on before you travel.

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