Eighty-eight places in Japan are going to be designated "animation¹ spots" to encourage visitors to seek out the train stations, school campuses, rural shrines² and other fairly everyday places where popular "manga" characters are depicted³.

 

日本将选定88个地区作为“动漫圣地”，推动旅游业发展——火车站、学校、神社和知名动漫人物日常生活的地方都将被选中。

 

Such landmarks⁴ number in the tens of thousands, given the popularity and volume of "manga" comics in Japan, but the project aims to compile the official list for any fan's animation "pilgrimage", as the places are known as "seichi," or "sacred spots."

 

Anyone can vote on the landmarks through a website set up in several languages, including English and Chinese.

 

"Japanese pop culture has grown to rival American Hollywood," Tsugihiko Kadokawa, chairman of Kadokawa Corp. publisher and film studio, one of the officials behind the effort, said Friday at a Tokyo news conference. "Animation can change the times."

 

The project highlights Japan's push to make tourism a valuable boon⁵ for a stagnant⁶ economy, as dynamic as the export of Toyota vehicles and Sony electronics.

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