Shirakawa-Go, The Real Hinamizawa of Higurashi: When They Cry

A friend whom I converted to a Higurashi: When They Cry fan shared to me Punynari’s blog where he posted something about visiting a place in Japan called Shirakawa-Go: an ancient neighborhood and claims it to be the model for the anime’s fictional rural town of Hinamizawa.

Overlooking of Hinamizawa vs. Shirakawa-Go

And good lord, the resemblance of the photos compared to the ones in the show is mind-blowing! It just became one of my top to-visit places when I go to Japan. Click the link to his blog to read more about his trip there! Though I think he made it private already. Anyway, Here are more photos:

Hanging bridge over the river:

Unique houses of the town:

Rika and Satoko’s House:

Furude Shrine:

Furude Shrine close-up:

Punynari also mentioned that there was also Keiichi’s house, the bridge where Satoko made Keiichi fall, and the school house where Chie-sensei teaches, etc. Damn. As a huge fan of the series, I would love to go there right about now. I wonder if the locales know how famous their town is due to Higurashi? They probably do. On the other hand, I bet people who have watched the series would be cautious there, on account of being in the real-life setting of a murder-filled show.

Also, Punynari was also kind enough to show us how to go there:

1.) From either Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station: Follow signs to Shinkansen. Ask for Nozomi, Nagoya. Reserve a window seat if you can.

2.) From Nagoya Station: You want to get on the Hida Wide View train to Takayama. You’ll see some going to other places like Matsumoto. I bought a ticket from the machine there (even though it was for non-reserve local) and then hopped on a train to Takayama. The train attendant adjusted the price for me. Make sure you have lots of yen on you for this trip.

3.) From Takayama Station: There will be a bus station there and everything will be in English. Go to the bus station window and say Shirakawa-go. Wait by the sign for Shirakawa-go (in English) for your bus to arrive. It's about an hour to Nagoya, another hour to Takayama, and yet another hour to Shirakawa-go. So about 3 hours travel time costing around 20,000 yen for one-way. It’s worth it to see this beautiful place at least once!

Hopefully I'll be able to go there in the near future. And of course I'll write about it!