Goodbye, Lara Shiga prefecture references
Goodbye, Lara is set in Shiga prefecture, around Lake Biwa. There are a ton of references to the area in the show that you probably don't notice if you're not familiar with Shiga prefecture so I thought I'd point out the ones I know of. I'm not super familiar with the area either though so I might miss some things.
Shiga prefecture is in the Kansai region of Japan, right near Osaka and Kyoto.
They speak Kansai dialect here and the area is pretty rural.
This location was chosen because the director of the anime is from Shiga prefecture.
Things that are unique to Shiga that show up in the anime
The first big thing is Lake Biwa!
Lake Biwa is the largest and oldest lake in Japan! It's 4 million years old and around 40 miles long and 14 miles wide.
It is named Lake Biwa because they said it had a similar shape to the classical Japanese instrument called biwa.
and it is set in Otsu City which is not far from Kyoto on the west side of the neck of the biwa shape
This is the largest island inside Lake Biwa. It is inhabited.
Lara's sister goes here in the second ep to check on the place where Lara (and I assume the rest of their family) is sleeping in the shells.
Otsu Harbor Symbol Greenspace Park
This is where Mari was when they met
Cheerio is a Japanese drink maker and their manufacturing plant is in Shiga prefecture. They make all sorts of drinks but the show features their Homestyle Hot Chocolate.
I hear that the vending machines for Cheerio branded drinks are mostly located in Shiga prefecture also.
Otsu Harbor Passenger Terminal
This is a place where people wait to get on giant paddle boats to view Lake Biwa. It is called the Michigan Sightseeing Cruise.
Shiga prefecture is known for making baumkuchen! This is a cake that was German in origin but has become popular in Japan. The cake is made by cooking it layer by layer on a skewer and rotating it to cook it. They slowly add batter to the outside to make it larger.
It ends up with a hole in the center and rings that look like the rings of a tree, hence the name meaning "tree cake" in German.
The cakes that Mari's mom used to have a ton of because she'd give them to the parents of the children Mari fought as an apology and the cakes Lara ordered were all baumkuchen from Club Harie which is a local Shiga bakery that makes them.
This is a real life department store headquartered and mainly operating in the Shiga prefecture area.
At the heiwado you can also see the Tobidashi bouya(or running boy) which is a traffic safety awareness mascot in Shiga.
A real life vtuber duo that live in Shiga and often make youtube videos about the area. They have a collaboration with the anime where their characters are hidden somewhere in every single episode and if you find them you can apply to get a postcard featuring them with Lara and Mari.
Both these shirts say "Siga" on them which is another way to romanize Shiga for Shiga prefecture. I assume they're shirts that you can get from places in Shiga... they look like planetarium shirts or something I'm not sure.
Added another in another post!
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