★★★★★ 5.0
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Your Name Stairs
Every morning at 6 AM, anime fans from around the world climb these 42 concrete steps, phones raised, recreating the exact angle from Makoto Shinkai's 2016 masterpiece "Your Name." You're standing on what locals call the Suga Jinja stairs, though the shrine itself sits hidden behind you - most visitors never realize they're actually on sacred ground that's been here since the Edo period. The magic happens at step number 23, where you'll get that perfect movie angle looking down toward the street. What's wild is that Shinkai chose this random residential staircase in Sugacho specifically because it felt "unremarkably Tokyo" - just everyday concrete poured sometime in the 1960s when this neighborhood was rebuilding after the war. The handrails you're gripping were installed in 1987, decades before anyone imagined they'd become Instagram famous. This whole area escaped the devastating 1923 earthquake that flattened most of Tokyo, which is why you'll notice the slightly older, more traditional buildings tucked between the modern apartments. The view you're seeing - that intersection below where the two streets meet at that slight angle - that's pure urban planning accident from the 1950s reconstruction. Yet somehow, it became the most photographed staircase in Japan, drawing over 2,000 visitors daily during peak anime tourism seasons.
Did You Know?
- Fact 1: The Suga Shrine stairs, famously known as the 'Your Name Stairs,' became a global pilgrimage site after appearing in the climactic final scene of Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 anime film Your Name, where the protagonists Taki and Mitsuha reunite—a moment that has inspired fans worldwide to visit and recreate the scene, making the stairs a living symbol of hope and connection in popular culture.
- Fact 2: Architecturally, the Otokozaka stairs are distinctive for their bright red handrails and stone steps nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood near Shinjuku, offering a picturesque contrast to Tokyo’s urban bustle; the stairs’ simple, everyday appearance in real life contrasts with their dramatic, almost magical role in the film, highlighting how ordinary places can become extraordinary through storytelling.
- Fact 3: Visiting the Your Name Stairs is part of a Japanese cultural practice called seichi junrei (sacred site pilgrimage), where fans seek out real-life locations from their favorite anime, and butaitanbou, the art of taking photos that precisely match scenes from the source material—making the stairs not just a tourist spot, but a shared cultural experience for families, children, and anime enthusiasts alike.