Since I’m currently still in Japan, which makes progressing on VN development a little tricky, we’re gonna do something similar again to last week when I reported on my visit to Shirakawa-go, the real life reference for Higurashi no Naku koro ni‘s village of Hinamizawa.
And this time, we can even tie things directly to our latest release SHINRAI Saku – Blooming Beyond Despair, given that I’m in Kyouto now, which served as the real life reference for Tenrinto, the city Raiko‘s entire grade travelled to for their school trip!
Really, Tenrinto is just the SHINRAI version of Kyouto. If you read the respective trivia entry in-game, you’ll quickly notice many similarities between the fictional and the real location, from dates and population numbers to even names of places and sights.
Just like it was done with Hinamizawa, I purposely chose to stick very closely to the real life reference. As for the reason I picked Kyouto in the first place, well… that’s because it is, in fact, where Japanese schools often tend to take trips to! There are always exceptions, of course, but it is indeed a rather common destination pick.
And the way these school trips usually unfold is also just like what I’ve portrayed in Saku. If you read Raiko‘s diary entries, you’ll get a summary of a pretty typical itinerary which I based on actual Japanese student reports and blogs posts from tour guides who lead student groups through the city.
Since it’s very close by, a visit over to Nara is often included in the trip as well. This place is best known for Nara Park, the den of the deer, which I simply named Shika Park in Saku (鹿 “shika” being the Japanese word for “deer”). Today, I even had a similar experience to Bara-chan when I went there, getting completely swarmed by deer the moment I fetched the shika-senbei (deer crackers)…
(They may look cute and innocent, but make no mistake: these ravenous beasts know no mercy. And they really are everywhere…)
Anyway, I’m running out of time again, so I guess we’ll leave it at that. Next week, I’ll (unfortunately) be home again, so we’ll continue with our regular posts. Until then, please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, as always, take care 🦌
