No.771425
Hey /a/, I recently visited the (no longer used) elementary school in Toyosato, which was the model for K-ON!'s Sakuragaoka High School, and I thought you might like the pictures I took.
Toyosato is a small town in the Shiga Prefecture, it can easily be reached by train from Kyoto. After around 2 hours with two or three changes into smaller trains each time, I arrived at the station and was greeted by this cute picture depicting the four seasons.
No.771426
This is just outside of the station, you can find the turtle and hare theme all over the city. You may notice Azusa in the second picture, in Toyosato those "Drive slow because of children" signs are mostly in the form of anime characters, the majority from K-ON!, of course.
No.771427
>>771426
Oh, I just noticed Mugi a bit further in the back.
I think this is the main street, it's a really small town.
No.771429
On my way I took a stroll through the neighbourhood, and after approximately 10 Minutes walking I reached my destination.
It's a weird feeling seeing this familiar building in 3D.
No.771430
I walked around the court for a bit before entering, to the right of the entrance is the bust of what I presume is the school's founder. Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing any hat at the time.
No.771431
You can freely enter the school, there's a bit of an architectural exhibit about it on the ground floor, but I didn't take any pictures of that.
We all know the stairs, with the tortoise and the hare starting their race to the upper floors.
One of the classrooms had the inner windows open, so I took a picture. Most were closed, though.
No.771432
On the top floor lies the club room, and everything's arranged exactly like in the anime.
Visitors from all over the world left messages on the whiteboard, I'll have a few closer pictures in a while.
No.771433
There's the cassette player with a Houkago Tea Time tape in it, I didn't try it out though.
No.771436
The table loaded with tea and sweets, notice Azusa's cat mug at the head.
Near the window was Ton-chan's tank, but of course there was no real turtle in it.
No.771439
The window has a nice look over the whole court.
No.771440
A bench with the girl's shoes.
I'm not into feet, but I guess someone here would get a kick out of Ritsu's shoes.
No.771441
Here's the whiteboard again.
No.771442
Also the blackboard, and the sheet music on the piano.
No.771443
There's a small room used as passage to the stage, with a cupboard filled with tea accessories.
No.771444
The stage room where Mio's fanclub had their meetings, if I remember correctly.
No.771445
A few instruments and another whiteboards for announcements and the set list, but my Japanese isn't good enough to say what it was all about.
No.771446
I took the second picture from the stage room's window, which overlooks the new school buildings sports court. It seems there was some small event going on.
No.771447
Going down the stairs, I met the hare and tortoise again, with the hare resting overly confident while the tortoise surpasses him and finally wins the race.
Notice how countless hands have left the hare at the bend quite smooth.
No.771449
The school's hallways, with the yellow door markings on the floor.
No.771450
I stepped outside and entered the assembly hall, you will probably remember this mostly from Mio's little Shimapan accident.
No.771451
The court fountain even has carp in it.
No.771452
Fascinating, the attention put to presenting it as a pilgrimage site is great, like the club room layout and items in it. Did you see anyone else there for the same reason as you?
No.771453
On the way back to the station (where I had to discover the next train would run in nearly an hour) I saw those posters, it seems fans are celebrating the girl's birthdays at the school, maybe one of you can visit it around that time and take some more pictures.
That's all from me, I hope you liked it. Please feel free to share photos from your trips to Japan and especially to places known from anime or manga.
No.771454
>>771452
During my visit I was the only one, but I guess the townsfolk are used to seeing tourists from time to time.
I actually was there once before near last New Year's eve, but it was closed. At least there was this guy with his cool car parked in front of the gates.
No.771491
That's a really beautiful school, the use of wood is almost excessive, it looks expensive to today's eyes, but it is used so unsparingly you can really enjoy it.
>built in 1937
Damn the 1930s had good taste.
I'm hopefully going to Japan in 2018, I'll keep studying the language till then (even if I'm no where close to useful). OP, thanks for sharing.
No.771494
It always amazes me how clean the streets are when I see photos of Japan, even in little towns.
No.771503
>it's another "/a/non visits Nippon" thread
These threads are by far my favorite on /a/, and it's always a wonderful surprise to see one. Just before Christmas, too! I have saved every photo anons have taken over the past few years, and yours are no exception OP. Anyway, this kind of stuff keeps me going with the thought that I'll go back there one day, too.
I know there was that one anon who visited Toyosato and took videos all those years back, but these photos are really something else (especially since I'm watching season 2 this month). It must have felt surreal to see all these places and things in person. I bet it smelt nice and old in that unique Japanese way.
Thanks OP.
No.771563
>>771503
I loved those threads too. Does anyone have an archive? Especially the one where anon used some old film camera, those pics were really nice.
No.771629
I fucking love this thread!
No.771645
This is amazing, I feel like if it were anywhere else in the world that school would have been trashed and grafittied until it was unrecognizable. I also think it's cute that the city council seems to have embraced K-ON and have those drive slow signs and references. This thread made me smile
No.771653
That place looks kind of fancy, especially that courtyard. I've seen some other 3D Japanese highschools and some look almost like prisons or warehouses. Is it because this one's out of the urban nightmare of downtown Toyko?
No.771661
I always see people going to Toyosato but do other important points of otaku interest exist in Japan?
No.771666
>>771425
Bless you, pilgrim.
No.771756
Off the top of my head I can think of the place from Non Non Biyori a bit north of Tokyo and the one from Flying Witch, but I have no idea where it is.
>>771653
I think for a small town with under 8000 inhabitant it's pretty well off, they have their own hospital.
No.771766
>>771756
I know you didn't just take pictures of Toyosato, right anon?
Post the rest!
No.771775
>>771661
Yes, some places want to be mentioned or set in anime so tourists can come.
No.771783
>>771766
I didn't take too many pictures since I had already seen most of the places we went, but I'll try to post some on the weekend.
No.771787
I don't know why but something feels just fundamentally wrong about a school being a tourist attraction, even though that school is no longer in use.
No.771792
Nice pics Anon!
>>771443
Almost looks like they had died or something from this photo
No.771883
>>771432
>most of the stuff are gone
;_;
No.772151
>It's another 'anon visits japan' thread
I fucking love these, they're always so comfy.
I promise I'll contribute a thread like this too one day, thanks a lot OP.
No.772153
>>771883
Wow, there's a LOT of stuff more in the room in your video, I hope it's just because I went during winter and they keep it in a closet or something when there's less visitors.
I guess I'll have to go back there once more.
No.772160
>>772153
Please do, anon. I seriously hope no one's stolen them. That would break my fucking heart
No.772161
>>772160
>stolen
>in a small town
>in Japan
Incredibly unlikely. It could be that the staff decided to clean up all the shit that kept getting piled on by fans in order to keep the room more authentic to the show.
I just noticed they also have the dead fan in the room, which is unbelievably cool.
No.772175
>>772153
It sounded like there were more people in anon's video, so it might be the staff storing it when visitation is low so that it doesn't get ruined.
No.772192
Seeing small japanese towns is both comfy and sad.
No.772253
>>771440
>not being into feet
>not sniffing Ritsu's shoes
>not rubbing your dick in Mugi's
>not blowing half your load in Azunyan's and half in Yui's shoes
>not leaving a fake spider in Mio's
Anon, please.
No.772262
Thanks for those nice pics clearly showing that Japan is dying.
No.772290
I haven't even watched the show, but it's awesome that there is a god damned site of pilgrimage for it. It's an odd feeling seeing stuff like this. Why are the japs so much more sentimental about everything? It's enviable.
No.774285
>>771503
> I have saved every photo anons have taken over the past few years
Can you upload those pics somewhere?
No.774316
>anon made the pilgrimage
Your piety is to be admired. I hope to make the trek one day, too. Thank you for sharing, anon.
Did you leave anything behind?
>>771454
>Umi
I didn't know Shatner made a pilgrimage, too.
>>771756
There's the place from Locodol, but that's an anime that never saw as much love as these others.
No.774382
>>771425
羨ましいー
I need a passport and a few thousand dollars before the japanese are replaced by shitskins.
No.774424
>>774285
I'll try to get around to posting them this weekend.
No.774492
>>774285
I'm not that anon, but I remembered I downloaded the (peak vaporware) photos from that guy with the old camera someone put in a zip file.
When I go and check them, it's all thumbnails. The despair is real.
No.774494
No.774501
>>771425
How can OP walk casually into a public school full of underage children?
No.774506
>>774501
Read the OP
>Hey /a/, I recently visited the (no longer used) elementary school in Toyosato
No.774519