Girls und Panzer: Ōarai, the Tank Town

Ōarai Girls' Academy is a high school built on a vast ship, a floating city on the sea. Yet the series shows the ship's home port as a real place: Ōarai, in Ibaraki. The school ship is invented, but the harbour is not: Ōarai Port is the town's working harbour, and the waterfront is the place to start before walking into town.

Location precision: The school ship is invented; the pin marks the real harbour of Ōarai that the series names as its home port.

Visitor guidance: The harbour area is public.

In episode 4 Ōarai becomes a battlefield: the friendly match against St. Gloriana is set in the town, and this shopping complex by the harbour appears on screen. It returns in the opening of the film, in the exhibition match. Inside, a Girls und Panzer gallery sells goods and shows materials about the series.

Visitor guidance: Public shopping complex at the port; check the gallery's opening hours before you go.

In the street fighting of episode 4, the Matilda II misjudges an S-bend and drives straight into the entrance of a long-established inn on the Magarimatsu shopping street, wrecking it. The heated battle made the scene a talking point after broadcast. Shops around town now show life-size panels of 54 characters, and the creators charge no fee for them as thanks for the street the tanks destroyed. The inn stands in the middle of the street, and the panels make it a pleasant walk today.

Location precision: The series changes the building's look; the pin marks the Magarimatsu shopping street where the inn stands.

Visitor guidance: A narrow everyday street: keep off the roadway when taking photos.

The Kashima Rinkai Railway's Ōarai station is a recurring backdrop of the series. It appears in episode 7 together with a 6000 series train, and in episodes 10 and 11 that same train type pulls the wagons that carry the tanks. The station sits on the Ōarai Kashima Line, and it is the easiest way into the town for a visitor arriving by rail.

Visitor guidance: Working station on the Kashima Rinkai Railway.

In the film's exhibition match, a Panzer IV charges down the steps from the shrine towards the Seaside Hotel. The shrine is known locally as Ōarai-sama, and its Kamiiso torii stands on rough rocks by the sea, a view the lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni once praised. Climbing the steps towards the hotel gives the same view as the scene.

Visitor guidance: An active shrine: visit quietly and keep to the paths.

The film's exhibition match also uses the Ōarai coast, and the Seaside Hotel seen from the beach is the building hit and wrecked in that gun duel. During the film's run the real hotel played along and covered the spots where the shells struck with blue sheeting. Walking along the coast towards it brings the scene back.

Location precision: The film changes the town's layout; the pin marks the Seaside Hotel, visible from the coast where the scene is set.

Visitor guidance: The coast is public; the hotel is a private business, so view it from the beach.