Shirakawa

   

 

     

     

     

     

Shirakawa is a small, remote village located in the Gifu prefecture. Apart from being a world heritage site, it's also reknowed as being the location where Higurashi no naku koro ni is set.

       

Yes, they sell ice cream here. The thing on the right is 'Gohei-mochi', a local speciality. It's kind of like a slab of rice with sauce on top. Not bad.

   

   

Rika's shrine. Unfortunately, it was all covered up due to the heavy snowfall. The forbidden storehouse is actually a separate shrine on the other side of the village.

   

   

   

   

   

Unsurprisingly, there were a ton of Higurashi-related ema there.

   

   

Satoko's house.

   

   

Rena's house.

   

   

The shed popularly known as 'Rika-chan house'.

   

   

Rika's favourite place.

   

Lookout point. I had to wade through three feet of snow to get to Rika's spot above, but there's actually a proper lookout point here.

   

   

   

Irie's clinic. In reality, the Shirakawa clinic.

   

   

Keiichi's house.

   

In reality, it's a cleaning centre. If you look inside the front door, you can see where Keiichi's name in all probability came from.

   

Dam construction site.