Natsume's Book of Friends: Hitoyoshi and Kuma

Natsume's Book of Friends never names its setting: a quiet country town of mountains, shrines and fading spirits, within reach of a bigger city. Yet many scenes are modelled on Hitoyoshi, in Kumamoto Prefecture, where the author was born and lives. For the third season she personally showed the director and staff her favourite Kumamoto views, and the Hitoyoshi-Kuma region became the visual reference. Goods and posters connected to the series appear all over the area, so start here and fan out along the railway and the Kuma River.

Location precision: The series names no town; the pin marks central Hitoyoshi, whose scenery inspired it.

Visitor guidance: Start at Hitoyoshi Station and follow the location map from the tourist office.

The station is where the series meets real rails. Its main building and the cars of the Kuma River Railway are recreated in the anime, so the platform feels familiar before you have walked a block. The tourist information office inside keeps maps of the work's locations scattered around Hitoyoshi and Kuma, which makes it the natural place to plan the day. Since March 2017 the sightseeing train Kawasemi Yamasemi has also run from here to Kumamoto.

Visitor guidance: Ask at the tourist information office inside the station for the location map.

A short ride on the Kuma River Railway brings you to a tiny wooden station with a tiled roof. Its name means happiness, and it is the only existing station in Japan with that word in its name. In 2013 the railway sold tickets from Hitoyoshi Onsen to Okadome Kofuku in a Nyanko-sensei case, and has issued commemorative tickets with the series since. The station is unstaffed.

Visitor guidance: Unstaffed station on the Kuma River Railway line.

High in the hills, the dam shows up in the anime twice: in episode 6 of the first season and again in episode 6 of the sixth. It lies in Kumamoto's Kuma region, away from the railway stops, and few visitors come. It is one of the few stops here tied to specific episodes rather than a general resemblance to the area.

Visitor guidance: Pin marks the dam at the edge of the Kuma region; allow a car or taxi.

The hot-spring quarter lies near the station, where the hot spring at the present site opened in 1910. Since the mid-2010s fans on pilgrimage have stopped here, because Hitoyoshi resembles the series' setting. Close by stands Aoi Aso Shrine, founded in 806 and Kumamoto's only national treasure. The commemorative tickets sold by the Kuma River Railway in 2013 started at Hitoyoshi Onsen station, so this is also where the rail leg of the route begins.

Location precision: The series does not show a specific bath; the pin marks the hot-spring district, which fans visit for the setting.

Visitor guidance: Public baths and Aoi Aso Shrine lie close to Hitoyoshi Station.

Not every place is in Kumamoto. In season 4, episode 12, the scenery of Jirōmaru and Kamo in Sawara Ward, Fukuoka, is depicted, and the map the protagonist holds in that episode is the same as a Fukuoka city map. Fans who want the full set of the series' real-world locations make this detour from Hitoyoshi to a city district in a different prefecture, which is part of the series' geography even though the rest of the route stays in Kumamoto.

Location precision: The pin marks the Jirōmaru district in Sawara Ward; the exact street is not given.