It is currently ten years since the broadcast of the second season of the original Kyoto Animation anime, K-ON !. The series and subsequent animated film were, at the time, the most popular in Japan, breaking records for sale and leading director Naoko Yamada to success. Yamada, 24, won the Tokyo Anime Award for his work directing K-ON! in 2010 and 2011, becoming the youngest director to obtain it, even to date.
But Yamada's work at K-ON! It wasn't the only thing that put her on the public radar. The small town of Toyosato (Japan's twentieth smallest town) is home to Toyosato Old Primary School, the inspiration for the iconic school series.
Although the name of the town or city in which K-ON! it is never revealed within the series. In the fourth episode of the second season, the girls go on a school trip to the city of Kyoto through a Shinkansen line, where they can observe Mount Fuji. In real life, the town of Toyosato does not have a stop on the Shinkansen line because it is still a very rural area, and is only two hours from the local line to Kyoto.
So, it's time to review how the K-ON series! it helped preserve the small town of Yoyosato, and how the influence of this popular series is still felt in the region, even a decade later.
About the town of Toyosato in Shiga Prefecture
Toyosato is located at the closest point to Kyoto Prefecture, in the Inukami district. With an area of only 7.80 square kilometers, it is the smallest town in the district and the smallest in Shiga Prefecture. The town is known in Japan for its agriculture, sake and Toyosato Old Primary School, which gained popularity in the 2000s when the mayor proposed demolition of the building due to its long age and the few earthquake prevention measures in its construction. . The mayor was removed for this (although he was re-elected shortly thereafter). The school underwent several rebuilds to conform to earthquake prevention standards and reopened in May 2009, a month after K-ON's debut! on Japanese television, such as a Toyosato cultural center and library.
K-ON! at the Old Toyosato Primary School
Since the issuance of K-ON !, the Old Toyosato Elementary School, built in 1937, has undergone several reconstructions. The royal room where the music club activities in the series take place has been converted into a tea room, with cakes, mugs, a Gibson Pre-'08 Les Paul Standard, and even a series of cards similar to those of the opening sequence of the second season of the anime.
While Ton-chan was absent in the Music Club lounge, the turtle and the rabbit exist and can be found on the railing of the main stairs. One must imagine the painstaking process that the Tokyo Animation cartoonists went through to recreate these settings.
Old Toyosato Primary School facilities
In addition to being a popular site for anime, Toyosato Old Primary School has its own popular facilities on its own, including a museum of its own history that includes a 1930s telephone. As a cultural site, the school offers facilities nursery, cafeteria (with K-ON themed drinks!), a city library service, and guided tours of the school, allowing visitors to learn more about the building and the area in general.
The facilities can also be rented for events, birthday parties and even as a filming site. The live-action film Haganai used these facilities during its recording process.
The Toyosato Old Elementary School is regularly used for K-ON! Themed events. Every year, a group called "Toyosato Tea Time" holds events for each of the series' main characters within the facility, where the characters travel from all over Japan to drink tea, eat cake, and remember their love. for the franchise. According to their website, while the number of attendees is decreasing, they still managed to successfully celebrate Mio's birthday in January 2020 and Ui's birthday in February.
K-ON! in Toyosato village
Outside of school, little details from the K-ON series! They can be seen around the town of Toyosato. From a sign that is in the windows of small businesses around the local train station to some cutouts of characters that guide to the school, you can see how the city is grateful for the tourism that the series has brought to the area. . Most of the small businesses around the train station are just small shops, and there isn't even a convenience store around.
K-ON! promoting Toyosato around Japan
K-ON! not only supported the increase in tourism in the town, but also brought with it an increase in the income of the city, using the "Furusato Nozei" system. The "Furusato Nozei" (translated as "People's Tax") is a system that allows any resident of Japan to donate money to a certain region, city or town in the country and, in return, receives an object native to the area . What's more, due to the operation of the system, these donations are tax deductible, so the Japanese government returns the donated amount minus 2,000 yen (about $ 18) as a concept.
Usually, people receive local rice or sake, or perhaps meat for their donations, but this is not the case in Toyosato, where donors can receive exclusive merchandise from K-ON !. However, that the “Furusato Nozei” system is currently undergoing its annual renewal by the end of the fiscal year since April, and there are no K-ON items! available at this time.
Not only that, the Japan Post, Japan's postal system, released a stamp based on K-ON !, which was sold online and in stores around the country. According to reports, the first series of stamps was not exactly based on K-ON !, but instead used certain real-life shots that mimicked those from the anime series. The second line released did use frames from the anime.
Original writing: Crunchyroll © か き ふ ら い ・ 芳 文 社 ／ 桜 高 軽 音部
