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One of the first anime that really got me into anime was the 2006 series the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This was a 2006 anime series based on a light novel of the same name about an energetic, unhinged teenage girl named Haruhi who searches for all things mysterious like aliens, time travelers, and espers. She forms the “SOS Brigade” with four random people from her school purely because they fit fictional character archetypes to pursue these and anything else that catcher her limited attention span with reckless abandon. Secretly that group is made of an alien, time traveler and esper who were all sent to observe her because Haruhi can unconsciously manipulate time and space, and maybe bring about an apocalypse solely because the world got too boring for her tastes. The fourth member, Kyon, is the cynical narrator of the story and his power is being average.

All that insanity of aliens, time travelers and espers, aside, for all Haruhi knows, she’s just a rather driven girl dragging her friends around their average, un-noteworthy town. While it’s never named, in real life its Haruhi author Tanigawa Nagaru’s hometown of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. For their part Kyoto Animation painstakingly recreated the town for the series, even though they would never say where it was. Typical KyoAni work and impressive when you consider these were the days before taking a photograph and photoshopping it into a show.

I’ve been a Haruhi fan for over a decade and have wanted to do this sightseeing or “anime pilgrimage” for many years but haven’t had the chance until recently. I’d wanted to do it last year for the show’s 15^th anniversary but certain world events had other plans. Fans have been doing the Haruhi sightseeing for probably as long as the show’s been around, so what I was doing is nothing new and there was plenty of material to look into when plotting my trip. They will be in the reference materials at the end.

Because I’d likely never get to do this again, I made a one-day Nishinomiya Haruhi tour that hits all the important locations from the show. It’s something any fan with a little bit of stamina and single-mindedness can pursue. Warning: I walked over 10 miles by noon doing this and there were hills. I now know Kyon’s pain.

I know there are tons of minor points of interest used in quick scenes from the show and movie, but felt if I tried to stop and see every single one of them I may miss out on all the big ones I definitely wanted to see. I finished walking around Nishinomiya, even with a chunk of time spent in Shukugawa Park going the wrong way, by 2 p.m. so there’s room to stuff in a few more sites if you want to use my trip as a starting point for creating your own. I also visited nearby Amagasaki, where the shopping arcade scenes were “filmed,” which can easily take the day to 5 p.m.

I tried to recreate a number of shots, which didn’t always work out perfectly. Sometimes it’s my fault and sometimes its because spatially not everything is precisely the same in real life, again, this was done before just using a photo.

To help the home audience plot along and recreate the trip I’ve included Google Maps plus codes.

 

Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station (Hanshin)
Nishi-Kita Park           P9W4+HF Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Café Dream (former)  P9X4+7H Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Café Dream                 P9X4+CC Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Railway Crossing        P9X4+2P6 Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Like any good SOS Brigade patrol, my sightseeing began at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station’s Nishi-Kita Park. There weren’t any reasonably priced hotels in Nishinomiya so I rode in from Amagasaki. I wasn’t sure how long hitting all my stops would take, so I arrived at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to give myself time to both enjoy what I saw and take a few wrong turns. I had a decent breakfast before starting out so that nothing other than bathroom breaks and vending machine water stops could slow me down.

This area is featured in many episodes so if you’ve only time to see one place, this would be it. The park has been completely remodeled since 2006 with only the old clock remaining though it’s been slightly moved. On the upside, there’s now non-illegal bike parking just off to the side! The Haruhi tobidashi is no longer at the clock, but the Anime Pilgrimage 88 sightseeing plaque is now in the window of Nomura securities just across the street. There are a few tobidashi still around, I spotted two but there may be more.

The street from the park beside Kansai Mirai Bank leads to both the original location of the café the SOS Brigade frequented, Café Dream, and its current one. Both are just a few minutes’ walk away and around the corner is the cutaway railway crossing seen in the episode, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part VI.  The train station sprawls out a bit so I didn’t initially come out of the North East exit where the park was, but circling around came across this crossing that way.

Since this is the beginning and the end of my trip, I saved visiting the café for the end, though it is open for breakfast at 8 a.m. and I recommend the waffles.

 

 

 

Central Sports Park and Kansai Super
Central Sports Park     P8XW+FF Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Kansai Super               P8WV+Q6 Nishinomiya, Hyogo

I walked about ten minutes through a neighborhood from the station area to the Central Sports Park. The sports park was the location from the baseball game in the Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya and it’s where the natsumatsuri (summer festival) was held during the Endless Eight, though both the baseball field and field are locked when not in use so I only saw them from the outside. As an odd side note, an elderly gentleman was playing classical music on his violin behind a bush beside the baseball field.

A short walk away is the Kansai Super supermarket they had summer jobs at during Endless Eight. Coming from the ball field, the close up shots I recreated are the right entrance on the side facing the small side street and not the main road.

Shin’Ike Pond
Q83V+99 Nishinomiya, Hyogo

It takes about ten minutes to walk from Kansai Super to the pond where The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00 was “filmed.” Unlike in the series, there’s no fence to jump and is popular with joggers and dog walkers. I had no idea how popular dogs were until I came to this part of Japan. You’ll also notice the railing is different than how it appeared in the series. The pond and Hirota-jinja Shrine are equal distance from the Kansai Super, but Hirota-jinja is closer to the next stop after so I recommend doing it second.

Hirota-jinja Shrine
Q83R+32 Nishinomiya, Hyogo
http://www.hirotahonsya.or.jp/english.html

This quiet shrine looks normal but has a history going to back 1,900 years to its founding in 201 AD by the Empress Jinguu.  The city’s name of “Nishinomiya,” literally “East Shrine,” is derived from the presence of Hirota-jinja. The shrine is for the worship of Amaterasu, the sun goddess from whom the emperor claims descent, and has the distinction of being Hyogo’s only grand shrine. So naturally this is where Haruhi films her silly movie and accosts a priest with airsoft guns in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya Part II.

For a unique Haruhi sightseeing souvenir I bought an ema from the shrine, as it’s something you have to be here to get.

Railroad Crossing
Q84M+X2V Nishinomiya, Hyogo

It takes another 15 minutes to get from here to the railroad crossing where Haruhi explains why she is the way she is to Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part V.

The walk through here skirts or goes through a cemetery, which is weird except that it’s a normal road that cuts through and people were driving on it.

Between Nagato’s Apartment and the crossing is a stretch of road we’ve seen Kyon walk in Bamboo Lead Rhapsody. I didn’t intend to recreate this shot, but just snapped it on a whim and realized it later.

Koyoen Minami City House (Nagato’s Apartment)
Q85J+FH Nishinomiya, Hyogo

I missed this the first time, coming from the south and on the opposite side of the road, it was in my periphery. I also had it in the incorrect location Google Maps had it listed, causing some lost time.

Koyoen Station
Koyoen Station           Q86H+9X Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Bike Parking               Q86J+P3R Nishinomiya, Hyogo

This little station is the start of the part of this trip I both most looked forward to and dreaded- Kyon’s walk. This is where he drops off his bike and begins the long walk to school. He complains about “The Hill.” That’s inaccurate because that hill is just the last boss hill at the end of a series of hills that takes a good 20 or so minutes to get to. I now understand why he is so cranky. I used Google Maps to plot this course starting at the stairs to the foot of the school hill itself and it took me past all the different places shown in the various episodes that show his daily trudge.

The station itself is the same one that’s featured in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya episodes as they travel around to film the movie. It’s mostly the same except for the awning color. I also wonder if this is where the nickname “Kyon” is derived from.

Stairs
Q86H+5MC Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Ginsui Bridge
Q86F+7J Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Foot of the School Hill
Q868+83M Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Kita High School
Q867+J3 Nishinomiya, Hyogo

The epicenter of weirdness on Haruhi: Kita High School. In real life it’s also Kita High School. It should go without saying, but don’t bother students or enter school property. Part of the reason I chose to do this on a Saturday and work my way toward it and arrive later in the day was to lessen the likelihood of school being in session and bothering anyone. Kita was closed, but is surrounded by two other schools which did have something going on.

One last bit of geographical spite: Once you get to the corner of the hill road, you go back down the hill to get to the entrance. Now it’s time to back track to Koyoen Station, which looking down from this high ground is a pretty nice view.

 

Shukugawa Park
Q82H+XR Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Take the train from Koyoen Station and get off at Kurakuen-guchi Station. This is an entrance to Shukugawa Park, the park used in both the Mikuru movie and during the brigade patrols in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part III where Mikuru tells Kyon her secret. (SPOILER: She is a battle waitress from the future)

I made a mistake here and went south for a long ways and couldn’t find the benches that matched where Kyon and Mikuru sat. Those benches are actually a short walk north of the station. Cross the bridge outside of the station and go down to the park area and walk north. It’s the only part of the park that has the pairs of benches along a wide path. Doing this will save you half an hour of walking the wrong way, but it is a lovely park and not a waste to walk around.

 

Get back on the train and ride it to the last stop, Shukugawa Station. The brigade gets off here in The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya. Now it’s just a pleasant riverside walk to the Central Public Library.

 

…okay, it was after noon when I got off at the station. I’d been walking constantly for almost five hours and the sun was cranking up the heat. But I was this close to finishing and just powered through without stopping except to power chug a water bottle.

 

Shukugawa Station
P8RH+V5 Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Central Public Library
P8JH+9R Nishinomiya, Hyogo

Finally. The end. It’s here. So looking at the episode’s brigade activities, this is one of those points where they kind of fudge real world distances and re-arrange places to seem relatively near. Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station is not anywhere near either Shukugawa Park or the Central Library, going to either would require taking a train and then switching lines to get over here. Which is what I did in reverse to get back to Café Dream for some food and drink. I arrived at the library at 1:30 p.m., but if not for all the time spent at the park would have arrived much earlier.

 

Café Dream
P9X4+CC Nishinomiya, Hyogo
https://cafedream.net/index.html

The café is not precisely as it was in the show due to the move, but the furniture and the vibe is the same. It’s the classic, quirky little café you can find all over Japan. It has some Haruhi merchandise for sale, voice actor signature boards and a poster from the movie behind the counter, but otherwise there’s not much Haruhi stuff around. (Do look for their hardback copy of Hyperion though!) They also possess the Anime 88 Pilgrimage stamps for both the Haruhi and Yuki-chan series by the counter. There’s a framed SOS brigade t-shirt in the bathroom from the last fan get together in 2019, I hope they can do those again someday.

When I walked in around 2 p.m. it was very full and I got a few looks, possibly because I’m the only foreigner some people have seen since the country closed itself to foreign travelers. Despite the situation, I wasn’t the only Haruhi tourist, I talked to another guy who took the slow train from Tokyo to come down and walked to the same places I did during the day. I also noticed a grey-haired gentleman buying a Haruhi shirt at the counter. A local who spoke perfect English told me he didn’t know the café was the same one from Haruhi, he thought it was just a popular fan spot.

I visited twice during my trip to the area, once on this day and once on a Monday morning. It was also packed then, but it emptied it almost entirely within 20 minutes of my arrival. I recommend trying the Café Dream, their signature coffee. It’s mild and flavorful. The food was standard café fare and I enjoyed the waffles on the second visit.

The souvenir coffee is a must buy if you’re willing to pay the 2500 yen for it. It comes in a Haruhi box and is officially licensed, which is probably why the price is what it is. They also sell a T-shirt with Haruhi’s alien writing message I’ve never seen anywhere else before either.

Now, if you’ve followed this then all the local sightseeing was accomplished, along with a late lunch, by 3 p.m.

In the Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon mentions they “took the local line and get off after three stops” which would take you to Shukugawa Station as depicted. The shopping arcade shown in Sigh and the Mikuru movie is actually in the next city over, Amagasaki. Amagasaki Station (Hanshin) is about 20 minutes by train from Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station, but the real life shopping arcade is right outside. I was staying in Amagasaki so saw it on the previous day, but it’s doable on the same day as this if you’ve still the energy or a psychotic ball of energy to drag you along.

 

Amagasaki Central Park
PC98+PJ Amagasaki, Hyogo

Exit Amagasaki Station north exit and turn left in the park.

This memorial stone is on the right side of the path as you approach the arcade entrance.

Amagasaki Central Shopping Arcade Entrance
PC98+R9 Amagasaki, Hyogo

Once in the arcade it’s a straight shot for the first two locations and a turn much later down the way for the last.

 

Wan-wan Shop Model Car & Jigsaw Puzzles (“Yamachi Models”)
PCC7+47 Amagasaki, Hyogo

No, they don’t sell airsoft AK-47s or Desert Eagles. They also don’t have anything Haruhi-related except for the sightseeing map out front. The elderly owner was real nice and when I asked about Haruhi he smiled and confirmed this was the shop from the show.

 

“Morimura Vegetables”
PCC7+32G Amagasaki, Hyogo

One of the first scenes in the Mikuru “movie” has her hawking the Napa cabbage sale in front of this shop. Sadly, it seems to be permanently closed as it wasn’t open at any point during the visit. This is just off the arcade by a few steps onto an intersecting road.

 

Sanwa Electronics (“Omori Electronics”)
PC95+XH Amagasaki, Hyogo

This is the last stop (for real this time), on the far end of the arcade.

 

That was my full one-day Haruhi sightseeing trip, I think it hits all the major “must-see” sights and does it manageably. I was excited to finally do something I’d wanted to for so long and to see all of these real life inspirations for one of my favorite series.

If there is a message to Haruhi it’s that if life is boring and uninteresting, if what you want doesn’t exist, then do it yourself. Make what you want, and make life interesting and fun. And if you find any aliens, time travelers, espers or gods along the way, then that’s good too.

 

Planning this trip I looked at the trips people had taken before me for reference. They are listed below as there is more you can possibly get from them in your own planning.

A Visit to Haruhi’s Hometown, Nishinomiya
https://oveldas.home.blog/2020/04/18/a-visit-to-haruhi-suzumiyas-hometown-nishinomiya/

Mike Hattsu
http://mikehattsu.blogspot.com/2017/12/haruhi-suzumiya-nishinomiya-kitaguchi.html

Haruhi Suzumiya Information Bureau (Unofficial)
https://pikarin2438.wixsite.com/en-us

Haruhi Map (in Japanese)
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1iILzwP7fGqkYO7eKgANheekJins&ll=34.49189225533762%2C135.18971250000004&z=10