Interest

Get to Yamanashi in the Laid-Back Camp Train

The girls of Laid-Back Camp are currently stuck in their room, but that doesn't mean you have to be. The series is continuing to promote its real-life setting in Yamanashi Prefecture next month with a special train. The "Laid-Back Camp@Nashikko Express" will run on February 1, 2, 8 and 9 between Yamanashi and Shizuoka on the JR Minobu line. The train will transform into a mini Laid-Back Camp retailer with items that can only be purchased inside the train.

Items include a clear file set, a Nashikko cutting board suitable for camping, six different can badges, a life-size Nashikko Express head mark, and four acrylic standees modeled after the new key art for the collaboration.

The special train will run in conjunction with a sight-seeing campaign featuring five towns in the Kyōnan and Fujikawa areas of Yamanashi. Tourists can participate in the regional events and receive original Laid-Back Camp audio dramas and other goods.

In order to obtain the audio dramas, travelers must make their way to each of the five designated points and log-in to a special site using a QR code. The audio dramas focus on each of the locations and what makes them unique. Travelers that go to all five spots will receive an additional recording. The QR codes are located in several locations in each of the following five towns:

• Ichikawamisato: Daimonhirin Park, Mitama Hot Springs, Ichikawa-Daimon Station, Name Stamp Museum

• Fujikawa Town: Michinoeki Fujikawa, Fujikawacho Exchange Center Shionohana, Mahora Hot Spring, Kajika no Yū Spa

• Hayakawa: Minami Alps Plaza Cafe, Kominka Cafe Kagiya, Fumoto no Chokubai Grocery

• Minobu: Kaiogonmura Yunookukinzan Museum, Nakatomi Washi no Sato, Minobu Station

• Nanbu: Nanbu no Yu Spa, Roadside Station Nanbu, Roadside Station Tomizawa

The campaign ends on March 31. If visitors need help getting around, the travel magazine Rurubu will release a Laid-Back Camp guidebook on February 4. The magazine will include locations seen in the manga all the way through the ninth volume, including the characters' high school, the bench where Nadeshiko fell asleep, and school routes.

The guidebook could be handy if anyone who wants to find their pilgrimage locations quickly. The town of Minobu will host a free day to visit Motosu High School, the setting of the anime and live-action drama. The drama version of Laid-Back Camp is actually filmed within the school and visitors will get to see the set during the February campaign period and even camp on the school grounds.

The magazine also includes interviews with the cast about the anime's production and places they'd like to travel someday. As an added bonus, the issue will include recipes for the food seen in series like gyoza hotpot and tomato sukiyaki.

Laid-Back Camp has maintained a strong tourism presence in Yamanashi and Gifu with undeniable success. A recent survey found that five events held in 2018 brought in 85 million yen (US$765,000) in earnings and visitors spent 40% more than the tourism average in the past.

ROOM CAMP, the short anime spinoff of the Laid-Back Camp anime, premiered this month and Crunchyroll is streaming the series. A second season of Laid-Back Camp and a film are in the works. The first anime premiered in January 2018.

Source: Comic Natalie (Link 2), Yamanashi Prefecture official site