As I already suggested in last week’s blog post, we’re going to do something a little different this time. If you follow any of my private social medias, you might have already seen that I’m currently on a trip to Japan. And because of that, there hasn’t really been too much time to do any real VN work that I could report on. Though this is supposed to be a proper vacation… like, the first one I’ve taken in five years, in fact, so I hope you can cut me some slack here!
Anyway, in lieu of a project update, I thought I’d just share with you today’s experience as I finally made a long-held dream a reality by visiting Shirakawa-go, the real life reference for the village of Hinamizawa in Higurashi no Naku koro ni! And with Higurashi being a mystery story as well as a huge influence on my own works… it’s still kinda on topic, right??
If you’d eventually like to plan your own trip to this iconic visual novel location, the way I did it was to travel from Toukyou to Kanazawa via Hokuriku Shinkansen “Kagayaki“, which I booked through JR-East‘s eki.net. Since I’m also planning to visit the dinosaur museum in Fukui (big surprise), I chose Kanazawa as my “day trip travel hub”.
From Kanazawa Station, I then took the highway bus directly to Shirakawa-go, which ran for a bit over an hour. The bus needed to be booked in advance, which I did through Japan Bus Online. All very simple stuff (does require a credit card, though).
Once at the Shirakawa-go bus terminal, you’re just minutes away from the village. My first destination was the observation deck from which I took the picture above. You can go there by shuttle bus or walk the scenic path. I did the latter, as it also led me to Satoko‘s and Rika‘s home! Be warned, though… it’s a twenty-minute walk that eventually goes up a looong, steep road. Which was quite a challenge given the temperatures (nearly 30°C 💦). Also, beware of the bear!
(I didn’t actually encounter any bears, so the warning sign turned out to be rather anticlimactic…)
Near the observation deck was also a souvenir shop that had a whole bunch of Higurashi-related items on display. Not all of them for sale, but you’d better bring a loaded wallet, anyway! Right outside the store was also a wall with a ton of ema plaques left by fans:
(You can click all these images to enlarge them by the way!)
There were more little souvenir shops scattered across the village, but only a couple of others offered more pieces of Higurashi merch and the selection wasn’t quite as large. Still, definitely worth checking out the other places as well!
From the observation deck, I followed the steep road back down again, which thankfully was a lot less exhausting. I then made my way over to the Shirakawa Hachiman Shrine, a.k.a. Furude Shrine!
After a quick prayer to Hanyuu-sama, I explored the rest of the village. It may be small, but there is still a lot to see and many beautiful sights to behold. And, of course, the occasional Higurashi character appearances!
Finally, I went across the Deai Bridge, which was another big challenge for me, due to my enormous fear of heights… the bridge noticeably swaying certainly didn’t help with that, either. It was scary, but I made it without anyone pushing me off!
Oh right, I arrived at 11:05 and left with the highway bus again at 17:30, so I spent a good six hours in Hinamizawa (during which I was constantly on the verge of tears, so emotional it was). That time span included a ton of lengthy breaks, though (my legs aren’t made for so much walking…) as well as moments to simply take in the scenery. There are a bunch of restaurants, hotels and museums around, however, so it’s definitely worth it to not book the return bus too early or maybe even stay a night.
Still, even after just six hours, I felt like this cute little Shiba Downu I came across, which I gotta give a special shout-out to:
Well, that pretty much sums it up! I could talk a lot more and share a ton more pictures, but it’s getting late, so I gotta come to a close.
Not sure what we’re gonna do for next week’s blog post, as I’ll still be in Japan at that time, but we’ll see! For now, please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, as always, take care! See you next Saturday! :3
