Interest

Anohana Fans' Wish Plaques Disappear from Shrine

The website for the Saitama Shimbun newspaper in Japan reported on Friday that some of the anohana wish plaques from the Chichibu Shrine in Saitama prefecture have disappeared. The town of Chichibu was used as a model for the town depicted in anohana, which finished airing last month. The shrine has now become a pilgrimage spot for fans of the series.

Fans from the show had visited the shrine from across Japan and wrote wishes on the plaques, such as "I hope Jintan goes to school" and "I hope Menma and everyone's wish is able to come true." Originally, there were 30-40 of these anohana-themed wish plaques hanging at the shrine, but now all but a few have disappeared.

The shrine has now set up an exclusive section for anohana-themed wish plaques, which are, despite the disappearances, still increasing as fans are still traveling to the shrine to hang them.

The Chichibu Anime Tourism Executive Committee and the Chichibu Business Union Association have, as a part of a larger plan to promote tourism in the area, created approximately 550 anohana street light flags to hang along the nine shopping streets in the city. Of those 550 flags, 50 have also gone missing.

The story of anohana follows several childhood friends who try to reconnect in high school after drifting apart.

[Via 0taku.com]

Image © anohana Project