5 Centimeters per Second

©Makoto Shinkai/CoMix Wave Films

Directed by Shinkai Makoto, the director of "Your Name." and "Weathering With You", this film is composed of three sad love stories: “Cherry Blossom”, “Cosmonaut”, and “5 Centimeters per Second”. Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari in Tokyo are close friends in elementary school. After graduation, they are forced to part as Akari needed to attend another school. In the first winter of their junior high years, Takaki has to transfer to a school in Kagoshima. Before leaving Tokyo, he decides to visit Akari. In heavy snow, Takaki got on the train to Tochigi to meet with Akari who lives there.

Sightseeing Spot in This Area

The junior high school that Takaki attends in Tokyo is near the Gotokuji Station on the Odakyu Line. A ten-minute walk away from the station is the Gotokuji Temple (as pictured), a Bodhi temple of historic value built by Ii Naotaka, Lord of Hikone, for his family. The temple is also known in Japanese history as the final resting place of Ii Naosuke, who was assassinated in the famous Sakuradamon Incident. In addition, it is said that the temple is the origin of the maneki neko (beckoning cat) figurine. In the "Shoufukuden" that worships the Shoufuku Kannon deity for prosperity is an impressive arrangement of an overwhelming number of maneki neko figurines.