Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.) Pilgrimage Guide: Hida Furukawa, Suga Shrine & Cafe La Boheme

In the animated feature film Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.), Tokyo high schooler Taki Tachibana sets out by train to find the mountain town of Mitsuha Miyamizu, the girl with whom he has been mysteriously swapping bodies in his dreams. Scattered across Hida City in Gifu Prefecture are the real-world model locations from Taki's search—including JR Hida-Furukawa Station, Hida City Library, the stone steps of Keta Wakamiya Shrine, and Ochiai Bus Stop.

At Hida Furukawa Sakura Bussankan, visitors can braid their own silk kumihimo cords—the key motif connecting the two protagonists—on a traditional marudai stand or by hand, while in Tokyo fans can visit the Otokozaka staircase at Suga Shrine in Yotsuya and dine at Cafe La Boheme Shinjuku Gyoen, the Italian restaurant that inspired Taki's after-school job. Marking the 10th anniversary of the film's 2016 release, Hida City also launched commemorative bookmarks and revived original displays at the library in 2026. Below, we guide you through all 7 locations across Hida and Tokyo.

Visiting the Model Locations in Hida and the Staircase & Restaurant in Tokyo

JR Hida-Furukawa Station, Hida City Library, the steps of Keta Wakamiya Shrine, and Ochiai Bus Stop all correspond directly to scenes from Taki Tachibana's journey searching for clues to Mitsuha Miyamizu's hometown. Together with Hida Furukawa Sakura Bussankan—where you can try making a braided kumihimo cord—the Otokozaka stairs at Suga Shrine in Yotsuya, Tokyo, and Cafe La Boheme Shinjuku Gyoen, these 7 stops trace the footsteps of the story.

1JR Hida-Furukawa Station: Station Building, Bus Rotary, and Overpass Bridge

At JR Hida-Furukawa Station, the station building, the bus rotary outside the exit, and the pedestrian overpass looking down onto the tracks preserve the exact scenery depicted during Taki's trip. The bus rotary to the right as you exit the station building is the model for the scene where Taki questions local taxi drivers, while the overpass windows look down across Platforms 1 and 2—where, as of August 2026, two trains line up on both tracks just like in the film once a day at 9:57 AM. Because railway timetables are subject to revision, check the latest train schedule before your visit.

Source: Hida City Official Tourism Site: JR Hida-Furukawa Station

2Hida City Library: Model for the Scene Researching Itomori Town

Located at 2-22 Furukawa-cho Honmachi, Hida City Library is the municipal public library that served as the model for the scene in which Taki researches the history of Mitsuha's town of Itomori. When taking photographs inside the library, you must first register at the counter to receive a photography permit badge and take care never to capture other library users in your frame (photography is not permitted after 17:00).

Inside the library's dedicated Your Name. corner, visitors will find municipal pilgrimage maps and leaflets alongside guestbooks where fans from Japan and abroad leave messages and record their hometowns. In 2026, marking the 10th anniversary of the film's release, the library also revived its original wall displays from 2016.

Sources: Hida City Official Tourism Site / Hida City Library Photography FAQ / Hida City Library Facility Guide

Post-Release Visitors and Film Materials Preserved as Regional Archives

Although Hida City Library had welcomed interior photography even before the film opened, the surge of visitors after release prompted the staff to prepare multilingual etiquette signs and clear guidelines. Library visits rose to 134,077 in fiscal 2016—up sharply from 104,456 the previous year—while Hida City hosted local screenings attended by 3,785 residents, produced official posters and flyers, and ran a wrapped highway bus from late February 2017 through March 2018.

The library preserves film-related publications as part of its local history collection, and the hometown cards filled out by visitors have continued over the years in the form of notebooks and world maps. Library staff have warmly noted that seeing protagonist Taki use books to uncover the history of a town represents the very essence of what a public library is for.

Sources: Hida City Library FAQ & Regional Collection Guide (Updated December 2025) / Hida City Record of Regional Reception Initiatives

3Keta Wakamiya Shrine: The Stone Approach Steps Where Taki Asks for Clues

Roughly a 14-minute walk from JR Hida-Furukawa Station at 1297 Furukawa-cho Kamiketa, Keta Wakamiya Shrine stands on elevated ground overlooking the town of Furukawa. Its stone approach stairs are known as the model for the scene where Taki asks local residents for clues about Itomori, and to the left just before the worship hall stands a sacred sawtooth oak tree (okunugi) whose upper trunk was snapped by lightning during the Meiji era.

Serving as the guardian shrine for the surrounding Furukawa town districts, Keta Wakamiya Shrine holds its annual grand festival—the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 'Furukawa Festival'—every April 19 and 20. Pairing the dynamic nighttime 'Okoshi Daiko' rousing drum procession with the serene daytime parade of intricately decorated festival floats ('Yatai Gyoretsu'), the festival selects its presiding district duty officers each year through a sacred lot-drawing ritual at the shrine.

Furukawa Festival: When the Shrine’s Annual Festival Fills the Entire Town

Visitors who wish to see the festival floats outside of April can stop by the Hida Furukawa Festival Exhibition Hall at 14-5 Furukawa-cho Ichinomachi, which displays three of the town's nine floats year-round alongside a 4K theater presentation, karakuri mechanical puppet demonstrations, and hands-on Okoshi Daiko drum practice.

Sources: Hida City: Events of the Furukawa Festival / Hida City: Hida Furukawa Festival Exhibition Hall / Hida City Official Tourism Site: Keta Wakamiya Shrine / Hida City Official Guide to the Annual Festival & Sacred Oak Tree

4Ochiai Bus Stop: Model for the Shelter Where Taki and Friends Wait for a Bus

Located in Miyagawa-cho Ochiai in Hida City, Ochiai Bus Stop is the real-world model for the roadside shelter where Taki and his companions sit waiting for a bus after failing to find leads on Itomori. Following the film's release, the bus stop signage was spruced up, and it remains in active use today as a stop on the municipal loop bus.

Source: Hida City Official Tourism Site: Ochiai Bus Stop

5Hida Furukawa Sakura Bussankan: Discovering Traditional Craft Through Kumihimo Braiding

At Hida Furukawa Sakura Bussankan (2-20 Furukawa-cho Sannomachi; closed Thursdays and New Year holidays), visitors can braid their own 'kumihimo' silk cord—depicted in the film as the precious bond linking Taki and Mitsuha. Choosing your favorite silk thread colors and weaving them on a circular marudai stand or by hand with staff guidance, you can finish your cord as a bracelet or keychain (for ages 3rd grade and up; 40+ minutes; 2,200 yen). The center also offers traditional Japanese candle painting, and for the 10th anniversary in May 2026 it released original keychains and unveiled archived 'Memory Pilgrimage Notebooks' from the craft center and Ochiai Bus Stop.

Sources: Hida City Official Tourism Site: Sakura Bussankan / Workshop Eligibility & Duration Guide / Sakura Bussankan Kumihimo Workshop Page / May 2026 10th-Anniversary Campaign

How Braided Kumihimo Cords Inspired Mitsuha’s Character Design

Kumihimo braided cords were also central to the film's character design: character designer Masayoshi Tanaka has explained that he began designing heroine Mitsuha Miyamizu first after receiving the director's request for 'a hairstyle inspired by a braided kumihimo cord.' When Hida City set up a kumihimo workshop corner for its 2017 exhibition after the film's release, municipal staff traveled to Iga City in Mie Prefecture—renowned for traditional Iga Kumihimo—to learn proper braiding techniques before welcoming fans. By fiscal 2019, its third year, 1,994 visitors took part in the 30-to-40-minute braiding experience, and staff subsequently learned advanced patterns from Iga artisans so repeat visitors could try new designs.

Sources: Hida City Kumihimo Cultural Exchange Project Record / Official Movie Interview with Character Designer Masayoshi Tanaka / Hida City 2017 Kumihimo Workshop Archive

6Otokozaka at Suga Shrine: The Stone Staircase with Red Handrails in Yotsuya

Located in Suga-cho, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, the 'Otokozaka' stone staircase of Suga Shrine—lined with its distinctive red handrails since the Meiji era—appears in the unforgettable closing scene of the film and draws fans from around the world. Revered since the early Edo period as the guardian shrine of Yotsuya (with its current sanctuary completed in 1960), the shrine remains a quiet neighborhood place of worship, so always yield to worshippers and local residents and avoid blocking the stairs when taking photos.

Source: JR East 'Chuo Line ga Suki da.' Official Feature on Suga Shrine

7Cafe La Boheme Shinjuku Gyoen: Model for the Restaurant Where Taki Works Part-Time

Located at 1-1-7 Shinjuku in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, 'Cafe La Boheme Shinjuku Gyoen' is the real-world model for the Italian restaurant where protagonist Taki Tachibana works his after-school part-time job (the operating company cooperated with production without listing the restaurant's name in the end credits). Featuring tall ceilings and expansive glass windows looking out onto the trees of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, the restaurant offers window tables, sofa seating, and a bar counter, and accepts dining reservations through its official website. Hours are 11:30–23:30 on weekdays and 11:00–23:30 on weekends and holidays; after 17:00 on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays, a minimum food-and-drink charge of 1,100 yen (tax included) per person applies.

Sources: withnews Interview with the Operating Company on the Model Restaurant / Cafe La Boheme Shinjuku Gyoen Official Information & Reservations

10th-Anniversary Commemorative Bookmarks: Four Designs and Distribution Spots

On August 26, 2026—ten years to the day after the film's theatrical release—Hida City began distributing free 10th-anniversary commemorative bookmarks in four designs featuring JR Hida-Furukawa Station, Hida City Library, Ochiai Bus Stop, and Keta Wakamiya Shrine. Visitors can choose one bookmark per person at either the Your Name. corner inside Hida City Library or the Hida Furukawa Town Tourist Information Center (8-3 Furukawa-cho Ichinomachi) while supplies last.

Source: Hida City Official Notice on the 10th-Anniversary Commemorative Bookmarks

Taki and Mitsuha’s Body-Swapping and the Family Supporting Them

Tokyo high school boy Taki Tachibana and mountain-town high school girl Mitsuha Miyamizu begin experiencing a mysterious phenomenon: while asleep, they wake up in each other's bodies in places they have never seen. At first assuming they are only dreaming, the two soon realize from the reactions of people around them and missing hours in their days that they are truly swapping bodies, and begin leaving notes on their smartphones to help navigate each other's daily lives—Taki's mind living inside Mitsuha's body in the mountains, and Mitsuha's mind living inside Taki's body in central Tokyo.

One day, however, the body swaps abruptly stop. Realizing how precious their bond has become, Taki sets out to find Mitsuha's town relying solely on sketches drawn from memory. While Mitsuha's hometown of 'Itomori' is fictional, the railway station where Taki steps off the train, the public library where he researches local records, and the shrine steps and bus stop where he asks residents for clues all exist in Hida City.

Sources: Official Movie Website / Hida City Official Tourism Site: Model Location Guide

Read the story synopsis and character profiles on the official movie website

Explore Deeper: Two Lives Across Tokyo and the Mountains

Mitsuha’s Shrine Household with Her Grandmother Hitoha and Sister Yotsuba

Mitsuha lives with her elementary-school-age younger sister Yotsuba and her grandmother Hitoha. After her father left the priesthood to serve as town mayor following her mother's death, Hitoha—the current head priestess of Miyamizu Shrine—raised both granddaughters while Mitsuha and Yotsuba assist with the shrine's traditions.

Source: Official Movie Character Profiles: Mitsuha, Hitoha, and Yotsuba

Makoto Shinkai’s Original Concept and the Craft of Animation, Voice, and Music

Planning for the film began in autumn 2013 after the release of The Garden of Words and coalesced in July 2014 into a proposal titled 'If I Knew It Was a Dream (Working Title) — A Tale of Two Swapped Lives.' Inspired by Ono no Komachi's classic waka poem ('Had I known it was a dream, I would never have awakened'), the story wove together a boy and girl meeting in dreams before ever meeting in life with the motifs of a comet and braided cords—already naming the fictional town of Itomori, Taki Tachibana, and Mitsuha Miyamizu at the proposal stage.

Source: Official Movie Feature: Director Makoto Shinkai on the Origins of the Story

Masayoshi Tanaka served as character designer and Masashi Ando as animation director. Designing Taki after Mitsuha required multiple rounds of revisions with Director Shinkai to balance earnestness with a slightly playful side so that Taki's expressions and gestures would also look natural when Mitsuha's mind was inside his body. Starting from the first screenplay draft in October 2014, Shinkai charted the emotional pacing across six drafts—carefully placing comedic beats before the story's dramatic second half—and assembled a full video storyboard (V-con) voiced with dialogue and sound effects that Ryunosuke Kamiki (Taki) and Mone Kamishiraishi (Mitsuha) studied before recording their body-swapped performances.

Joining the project once the screenplay was completed, the rock band RADWIMPS created four theme songs ('Zenzenzense,' 'Sparkle,' 'Yumetourou,' and 'Nandemonaiya') alongside 22 instrumental score tracks. Director Shinkai has shared that while Taki and Mitsuha originally communicated only through smartphone notes in the script, listening to RADWIMPS' early demo of 'Sparkle' while drawing the storyboards inspired him to have the characters write directly onto each other's hands and faces.

Sources: Cinema Today Interview with Director Makoto Shinkai / Official Movie Production Guide to Planning, Animation, Music & Casting

Live Orchestra Concert Performed in Sync with the Complete Film

On December 4 and 5, 2017, a live orchestra concert at the Tokyo International Forum screened the entire film while RADWIMPS and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed the score and songs live on stage. The Blu-ray and DVD editions released on April 18, 2018 capture the December 5 performance alongside rehearsal and backstage documentaries, encore footage, and the full printed score for 'Zenzenzense (movie edit.).'

Source: Official Movie Announcement of the Orchestra Concert Home Video Release

Ten Years Since Release and Exhibitions of Production Materials

Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, animated by CoMix Wave Films, and distributed by TOHO, Your Name. opened nationwide on August 26, 2016 and sparked an immediate wave of pilgrimage travel to Hida City—with municipal estimates recording roughly 155,000 pilgrimage visitors to Hida City between the film's release and the end of fiscal 2018.

Sources: Official 2013–2014 Production History / KADOKAWA Original Novel Release Date / TOHO Home Video Release Date / Makoto Shinkai Portal Release Record / Hida City Pilgrimage Visitor Estimates

2017 Hida City Museum of Art Exhibition of 300 Production Materials

From January 7 to February 19, 2017, the Hida City Museum of Art hosted a special exhibition of roughly 300 production materials from Your Name.—including the original proposal, storyboards, and animation layout drawings—welcoming 10,170 visitors during its run (exhibition now concluded) and showing how each frame of the film was built.

Source: Hida City Archive of the 2017 Film Production Materials Exhibition

The Makoto Shinkai Exhibition Archive, Original Novel, and Visual Guide

In Roppongi, Tokyo, the National Art Center, Tokyo also held the 'Makoto Shinkai Exhibition — From Voices of a Distant Star to Your Name.' from November 11 to December 18, 2017, tracing fifteen years of filmmaking across storyboards, artwork, and video. Fans can also explore the film's world in print through Makoto Shinkai's own novelization and the official visual guide.

Sources: National Art Center, Tokyo: Makoto Shinkai Exhibition Record / Official Movie Related Publications Guide

Lab Notes | Business Perspective: Balancing Everyday Library Use with Film Pilgrimage Visitors

By issuing photography permit badges at the counter, restricting photography after 17:00, and posting clear multilingual signs, Hida City Library successfully welcomed film fans from around the world while preserving a quiet reading and research environment for local residents—archiving fan message notebooks and film publications as local history records that later supported the 2026 10th-anniversary displays and commemorative bookmarks.

Setting clear photography hours and permit rules within existing counter operations protects everyday public library use while turning accumulated visitor records into long-term community assets.

Related Oshi Lab report: Municipal Collaboration Case Studies

Official Sources & Primary References

• Your Name. (Kimi no Na wa.) Official Website
• Hida City Official Tourism Site: 10 Years Since Release in the Model Town
• Hida City: 10th-Anniversary Commemorative Bookmarks
• Hida City Library Photography FAQ
• National Art Center, Tokyo: Makoto Shinkai Exhibition Archive
• Makoto Shinkai Works Portal: Release Record

Exhibition dates, opening hours, admission fees, and ticket details are current at the time of writing. Always check the official websites for the latest schedule updates before setting out on your pilgrimage visit.