Tourism companies and Japanese local governments are hoping to capitalize on anime box office hits such as "The First Slam Dunk" and "Suzume" by attracting domestic and foreign travelers, including from China and South Korea, to real-life locations associated with the movies.
Trip.com Group Ltd., a major Chinese online travel agency, has launched an online promotional campaign timed with the late April release of "The First Slam Dunk" in China. The hope is to promote tourism at locations linked with scenes from the original Slam Dunk, a classic basketball television anime and manga series from the 1990s.
One popular location is a picturesque crossing overlooking the ocean in Kamakura, a seaside city in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, associated with the opening scene in the Slam Dunk TV anime, where the protagonist stands in front of an animated version of the railway intersection.