The crossing is associated with the opening scene of the Slam Dunk TV anime, where the protagonist stands in front of an animated version of the railway intersection.

In recent years, fans have flocked to the crossing at Kamakura Kokomae Station. The trend looks likely to continue as inbound tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels.

China ended its stringent “zero-Covid” policy earlier this year, paving the way for people from the country to travel overseas, although group tours to Japan are yet to resume.

Zen Chai, who travelled to Japan from Singapore, was one of the dozens of visitors along the pavement facing the crossing in late April. Others were from China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Chai, 33, says he was “excited” to finally see the spot given his fond memories of the original Slam Dunk, an anime that reminds him of his student days playing basketball. Another fan, Hsinchi Wang, 45, says, “It’s very popular in Taiwan. There’s this nostalgia of high school.”

According to Takeshi Okamoto, an associate professor at the Department of Applied Sociology of Kindai University, in Osaka prefecture, entertainment people enjoy during childhood becomes a part of their identity. “As adults, people can become spurred by a sense of nostalgia to visit places linked to their childhood memories,” he says.

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“Now, many people want to go to Japan, as they think back to those hard times when they were watching anime [during the pandemic],” Okamoto says.

Mitsui’s name was derived from the sake, a favourite of the franchise’s creator, animator Takehiko Inoue. Sales of the beverage reached 10,000 bottles within one month of its release – a figure that normally takes a year for other types of the brewer’s sake.

Recently, the company posted a notice online telling customers that the special sake bottle was not for sale at the brewery, after visitors from China had travelled there looking to purchase it.

The firm, which was founded in 1922, sells the special bottled sake to roughly 110 shops across Japan. They have already been earmarked to provide for clients in China and South Korea on a yearly basis, although they are now in short supply for those markets, according to the brewery’s owner Tadatsugu Inoue.

The first door in Makoto Shinkai’s movie is said to look like the remains of a locomotive roundhouse in the town of Kusu, in Oita prefecture.

Keita Shinkawa, from the town’s tourism association, says being linked with Suzume is a “chance” to boost tourism in the area. “I hope visitors will also see and appreciate the other various charms of the town.”

A replica of another door from the movie has been installed in the town of Yamada, in Iwate prefecture, a location that was badly affected by the 2011 disaster.

The tourist association of the Sanriku coast port town, which has a history of tsunami, says it hopes visitors will be able to see how residents have persevered through periods of reconstruction.

In 2019, Japan welcomed nearly 10 million visitors from mainland China, accounting for the largest group among all foreign visitors – totalling 30 per cent of all inbound tourists – according to official data.

Earlier this year, China reopened its borders and resumed overseas group tours. But Japan is not among the 60 countries Beijing has designated as official tourist destinations.

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Japan is still regarded as one of the most highly desired travel destinations for many in China, but Southeast Asian countries including Thailand are emerging as rivals.

Thailand has been very welcoming of Chinese tourists. Its deputy prime minister personally greeted the first group of inbound travellers after they landed in January, and individual travellers from China can secure visas on arrival when entering the country.

Shintaro Chaya, chief representative of the Beijing office of the Japan National Tourism Organisation, says, “We should not assume that travellers will come to Japan for certain,” adding that if inbound tourists from China don’t feel welcome, they will likely go elsewhere.

Overenthusiastic fans have also become a cause for concern among local Japanese residents.

The crossing in Kamakura, for example, has become such a popular destination that a sign written in Japanese, English and Chinese has been installed nearby asking people to abide by safety rules, such as refraining from walking on the train tracks.

Okamoto calls for a balance between tourists and residents to be struck. “When visitors have happy encounters on their trips and go home with good memories, they want to come back,” he says.

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