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Detective Conan: Hokuei, Tottori's Conan Town

Detective Conan is the story of a teenage detective shrunk to a child's size, and its author comes from a small coastal town in Tottori, Japan. Gosho Aoyama was born in Daiei, now part of Hokuei, and the town has turned itself into Conan Town.

Mapped by Mapped Chronicles editors5 locationsCountries: JapanGPX

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Timeline & locations

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The pin marks the actual place where it happened or was filmed.
Approximate
The right area — a town, park or district — but not a precise spot.

  1. Gosho Aoyama was born in Tottori Prefecture in 1963, in what was then the town of Daiei. Daiei and neighbouring Hōjō merged on 1 October 2005 to form Hokuei, which now promotes itself as Conan Town. His series follows a high school detective who is poisoned by a crime syndicate and shrinks to the size of an elementary school child, then solves cases under the name Conan Edogawa. Everything on this route grew from that hometown connection.

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    Location precision: The former town of Daiei has no single landmark in the sources; the pin marks the centre of Hokuei.

    Sources

  2. Yura Station on the JR San'in Main Line opened on 20 December 1903 and is nicknamed Conan Station. Hokuei lists a Detective Conan-themed train station among its attractions for Aoyama's hometown. The Hokuei Town Hall, the tourist information centre and the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory all stand in the surrounding area, so the walk from the platform to the rest of the route is short.

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    Visitor guidance: The town's tourist information centre is near the station.

    Sources

  3. The first of Hokuei's town revitalization projects in honour of Aoyama were the Conan Bridge across the Yura River and a set of Case Closed statues. The river gave the area its early shape: in 1719 the Ikeda clan developed a settlement at its mouth as a port and administrative centre for collecting taxes. Today the bridge ties that old harbour town to the detective.

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    Visitor guidance: The bridge carries a public road, so take care on the approach.

    Sources

  4. On 18 March 2007 Hokuei opened the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory, a museum that celebrates Aoyama's career as a manga artist. Aoyama recalled being fascinated by the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" in elementary school, and an older brother, a scientist, helps him out with the gimmicks in Case Closed. The museum is the heart of Conan Town and stands in the same area as Yura Station.

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    Visitor guidance: Check opening hours with the museum or the town's tourist information centre before you go.

    Sources

  5. Tottori Airport has been nicknamed Tottori Sand Dunes Conan Airport since 2015, after the dunes and the manga series by Gosho Aoyama. It is not in Hokuei but in Koyama, within the city of Tottori. Its name caught the attention of the American talk show host Conan O'Brien, who visited Hokuei in September 2018, became honorary mayor for one day and served hamburgers to the townspeople.

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    Visitor guidance: Flights serve Tottori; Hokuei is a separate trip by road or rail.

    Sources

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