Japan's legendary prince Yamato Takeru rides east from Ise Grand Shrine, escapes a burning plain at Yaizu, crosses Ashigara Pass and meets his end on Mount Ibuki. His sword ends up at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The route follows the legend, told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles, through five places. Several are traditional identifications, so the pins mark shrines and mountains tied to the tale, not proven battlefields.
Momotarō, Japan's peach-born ogre-slayer, is tied to Okayama through the legend of the ogre Ura, Mount Kijo's fortress, Kibitsu Shrine and Megijima, the island of caves linked to Onigashima. The route follows the Ura legend from the hilltop fortress to the shrines of Prince Kibitsuhiko, then the island of ogres and the statue at Okayama Station. The Okayama link to the tale is modern, and some stops are traditional identifications.
Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most famous swordsman, moves through this route from the Sekigahara campaign of 1600 to the duel on Ganryū Island, Osaka Castle, Kumamoto Castle and the cave of Reigandō, where he wrote The Book of Five Rings. The route follows the biography stop by stop, from a village birthplace that sources place in two provinces to the cave where he spent his last years. Several details, including his role at Sekigahara and Osaka, are debated or rest on later accounts.
K-On! never names its setting, but its anime borrows from real places: Toyosato's Vories school buildings in Shiga, the Eizan railway stations of Kyoto, and a cafe in London's Earl's Court. The route follows the light music club from its high school through Kyoto's commuter stations and training-camp trains to the graduation trip in London. Some links are fan identifications, and Kyoto Animation denies the school one.
「進撃の巨人」は三重の巨大な壁に囲まれた世界を舞台にするが、作者の出身地は大分県の実在の山間の町である。諫山創は現在の日田市の一部、大山町で育ち、周囲の風景を作品世界のモデルにした。 このルートは、生誕の地から、2014年に諫山が観光大使に就任したイベント、さらに日田市が2020年と2021年に設置したエレン、ミカサ、アルミン、リヴァイの像までをたどる。作品が特定の実在の壁を下敷きにしているとする資料はないため、各スポットは町が自ら作った顕彰の場所を示している。