Welcome to this week’s review of notable instances of transit, place and culture as rendered in anime currently broadcast in Japan and simulcast internationally via the web. For a detailed outline of the approach, please refer to the explanation in the inaugural issue. Links to streaming sources are included when available, though not all may have current episode available at the time this column is published.

Tamako Market

(たまこまーけっと Tamako Māketto)
Watch: Anime Network

Google Map Update

New locations added and tallies updated. Still working on location of the clothing stores, but everything else should be there.

Fan Pilgrimage Update

More reconnaisance from Kyoto via @kbt_tigers1985 (post) and @Yamatonomiya (post).

Episode 8

Every episode of Tamako Market seems to jump ahead at least a month, sometimes an entire season. We’ve now arrived at fall, which is made clear by the change to orange banners and seasonal offerings in Usagiyama Shōtengai.

Kanna calls Tamako while walking along the Kamo River (鴨川), standing under the Imadegawa-dōri (今出川通り) bridge.

Walking to school along the canal

Pedestrian overcrossing between the academy’s neighborhood and Fujinomori Station (藤森駅)

Shopping for Choi’s cool weather clothing

They can’t find anything appropriate for their age in the shōtengai, but the shop clerk refers them to a nearby store.

Dera continues his exercise regimen on the delta where the Kamo River (鴨川) and Takano River (高野川) meet.

Boku no Imōto wa “Ōsaka Okan”

(僕の妹は「大阪おかん」)
Watch: Crunchyroll

Episode 7

These three minute shorts poke fun at exaggerated Kansai area stereotypes, specifically an “Osaka Momma” per the show title. They’re good for a chuckle if you’re familiar with the Kanto-Kansai rivalry. Last week featured an exchange about the different IC cards used with the JR West and JR East transit networks. The cards use passive near field communication circuits to store value and pay for subway, train and bus trips, as well as make payments at some stores and vending machines. In Osaka they have ICOCA, in Tokyo it’s Suica and Pasmo. Namika is surprised to find out that her card is interoperable with the Tokyo systems, and so was I! I didn’t realize until I looked it up that the JR West and JR East networks have been interoperable since 2004. That would be like every train, subway and bus from Boston to Washington, DC all operating on one contact-less card payment network that could calculate your trip cost from end to end as you transferred to different services. Maybe when hell freezes over?

Encouragement of Climb

(ヤマノススメ Yama no Susume)
Watch: Crunchyroll

Fan Pilgrimage Update

Both @lidges (post) and @musagoso (post) ventured out to Mount Takao to bring us cut-by-cut photographs of each scene in Episodes 8 and 9, including the public transit approach to the base of the mountain.

Episode 9

This week continues from the previous episode, with Aoi and Hinata reaching the summit of Mount Takao (高尾山).

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai

(ささみさん@がんばらない)
Watch: Anime Network

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@butaiwalker trekked out to Ōi (大井), Kanagawa Prefecture to bring us a post on the Ōigawa Main Line, a sightseeing train line featuring steam locomotives operated by the Ōigawa Railway (大井川鐵道), which appears in Episode 7.

Episode 7

Ōigawa Main Line

Tama rides on top of what looks like a 500 series Shinkansen at full speed, while eating an ekiben. Riding on top of the Shinkansen is generally not advisable.

Oreshura

(俺の彼女と幼なじみが修羅場すぎる Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru)
Watch: Crunchyroll • Hulu

Fan Pilgrimage Update

@butaiwalker was trekking around to Ikebukuro, Kashiwa and Kawagoe to photograph and report back on locations featured in Episode 8, and promises to get the remainder in Fuchū over the weekend. The more digging I do for Oreshura, the more I see that the incorporation of real locations is solely for visual purposes and used to create a composite town for the fictional Hanenoyama. While the locations are all technically reachable to each other by train, it would take a considerable amount of commute time to do so, far more than the show suggests.

Episode 8

Lots of third place this week. This is the cafe near Hanenoyama Station.

After cram school, Eita joins Ai and Kaoru for dessert. The cafe is based on the Milky Way in Ikebukuro.

This famiresu, where Eita and the harem have met several times before, is based on a location in Kashiwa (柏), Chiba Prefecture, close to Kashiwa Station (柏駅).