Do you want to know the location of the red stairs where Taki and Mitsuha finally met each other?
You’re in the right place!
* I will also tell you where you can watch Your Name, so keep reading.
Created by Makoto Shinkai, Kimi No Na Wa (君の名は ) or better known as Your Name is the highest-grossing anime movie in the world.
That’s right, it made more money than Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli.
Thanks to the boom of Your Name in 2016, anime pilgrimage has been revived. Many folks are starting to visit the real-life locations that Makoto Shinkai used to create Your Name.
Regardless if you are a fan of Your name (Kimi No Na Wa) or not, I recommend this tour as it is a great way to visit Yotsuya in Tokyo.
Let’s begin…
Red Bracelet
Around the 1:15:30 mark of the movie, on the train, Mitsuha meets Taki just before arriving at Yotsuya Station.
Before reaching Yotsuya Station, Mitsuha gives Taki a red bracelet.
If you want to relive this exact moment, you can go to the Shinjuku JR station (green) and take the Chuo-Sobu Line or Chuo Line (Rapid) JR line to Yotsuya station (only one stop on the Chuo Rapid line). In the movie Mitsuha and Taki ride the Chuo-Sobu Line towards Chiba.
* The JR Pass is valid for the mentioned route.
Yotsuya Station, date with Miki Okudera
At Yotsuya Station, Taki has a date with Miki and the meeting point is outside the station.
Note: If you are Catholic, next to the Yotsuya station is the Church of St. Ignatius, a major church in the Catholic community of Tokyo. There is mass in English at 10 am and in Spanish at 1:30 pm every Sunday.
Taki’s apartment
After going to Yotsuya Station, the next stop is the apartment where Taki lives. It is 9 minutes on foot from the station.
The view from Taki’s apartment appears many times in the film but the image of the building is never shown.
And in case you were wondering, Taki lives on the 6th floor and if you want to live in that apartment the rent is ¥130,000 yen ($1,162 USD) per month.
Address: 〒160-0011 Tōkyō-to, Shinjuku-ku, Wakaba, 1 Chome−22-15 離宮ハイム
Thanks to user infinitezenith, who was the first to discover the location of the building.
Red stairs where Mitsuha and Taki meet
After you visit Taki’s apartment, the last stop is the Suga Shrine where the infamous red stairs featured in the movie are located.
It takes 8 minutes on foot from Taki’s apartment to the stairs.
Taki was on the train using the Yamanote Line (Yoyogi to Harajuku) and Mitsuha using the Sobu Line (Yoyogi to Sendagaya).
After a lot of running, they ran into each other on the red stairs.
On April 8, 2022 (the date described in the manga), Mitsuha and Taki meet each other.
Here are some photos comparing how the place looks in the anime and in real life.
These stairs are so famous that even the famous YouTuber PewDiePie went to visit them.
Address: 〒160-0018 東京都新宿区須賀町５番地
Before finishing this post, I would like to answer the following question.
Did Taki and Mitsuha get married?
Yes, according to Weathering with You, they did.
For more info check this article:
Also, here is an article explaining Yotsuha (Mitsuha’s sister)’s cameo in Tenki No Ko.
Where does Mitsuha live?
Mitsuha lives in Itomori but the name is fictitious and no such town exists in real life.
Some fans believe that if the town existed it would be located near the Nagarehayama mountain within Gifu prefecture.
〒506-1154 岐阜県飛騨市神岡町伏方
In case you are wondering, the comet Tiamat, which was the cause of the accident in Itomori, is not real either.
Bonus: Where can I watch Your Name?
You can see it on Netflix and at the time of writing, it is available everywhere. It’s on DVD and Blu-Ray worldwide.
It is also on YouTube, Amazon Video, and even hit television in Japan and the Philippines!
Random fact: 5 Centimeters Per Second is another famous movie by Makoto Shinkai.
Review
Personally, I enjoyed walking to the real-life locations of Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa). One of the many reasons for the success of this film is that Makoto Shinkai associated fantasy with reality (coincidentally, our mission here at MIPON).
The stairs are one of the most iconic places within the anime pilgrimage community.
If you liked the work created by Master Shinkai (a.k.a. New Miyazaki), you have to walk there and take a picture on those stairs.
(I should point out that although many call Shinkai the “new Miyazaki”, he refutes this. Claiming that “due to the differences in eras and personal reasons behind making films, our roles are different.”
I highly recommend you go!
Don’t forget that Makoto Shinkai is directing a new movie called Suzume no Tojimari (Suzume’s Locking-Up)! It comes out on November 11, 2022, in Japan. If you loved Weathering with You, Your Name, and all the other great works of Shinkai, I hope you’ll be excited about his newest work!