Which anime holy land would fans want to visit the most? Goo weighs in on the Top 20

In Japan, anime-based tourism has now become a lucrative industry, with plenty of towns and cities taking advantage of the fact that they were featured in an anime to lure in more visitors and ultimately helping Japan’s over-all tourist industry.

This anime tourist spots, or anime holy lands as they have been called, have become the subject of Goo’s latest poll where they asked 500 anime fans on which anime pilgrimage sites do they want to visit the most. Here is what they had to say:

Note: the ones which we did not indicate which prefecture its from are the “Holy Sites” found in Tokyo

20) Iwami, Tottori Prefecture (Free!)

19) Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture (Natsu-iro Kiseki)

18) Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture (Tentai Senshi Sunred)

17) Shichigahama, Miyagi Prefecture (Kannagi)

16) Ikebukuro (Durarara!!)

15) Komoro, Nagano Prefecture (Waiting in the Summer)

14) Hanno, Saitama Prefecture (Encouragement of Climb)

13) Takayama, Gifu Prefecture (Hyouka)

12) Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture (Girls und Panzer)

11) Izu Ooshima Island (Vividred Operation)

10) Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture (Kamisama Kiss)

9) Kanda Shrine (Love Live!)

8) Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture (The Haruhi Suzumiya series)

7) Kuki, Saitama Prefecture (Lucky Star)

6) Chichibu, Saitama prefecture (AnoHana)

5) Tomonoura, Hiroshima Prefecture (Ponyo)

4) Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture (Neon Genesis Evangelion, can also count for Yowamushi Pedal)

3) Shonan, Kanagawa Prefecture (Slam Dunk)

2) Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Train Station (Whisper of the Heart)

1) Higashimurayama, between Tokyo and Saitama (My Neighbor Totoro)

Wow, all 20 places featured in the rankings are on many “When I go to japan, I will visit____” lists, however, Totoro’s Higashimurayama, which Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki himself is helping maintain, is on top of many people’s list.

The list also features a few upsets with Oarai, one of today’s hottest anime tourism destinations only making it to #12 and Iwatobi barely making it to the list at #20.

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Source: GOO

Which anime holy land would fans want to visit the most? Goo weighs in on the Top 20