From Screen to Reality: Travelling the World we Watch

As social media platforms are developing, it has begun to affect considerable numbers of individuals from various cultures and societies just as visual media that is popular in Japan with Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga). Since the start of 20th century, new digital technique for the artists of anime and manga began developing in which they take references from real life images. Due to its expeditious growing fame at the beginning of 21st century, the connection of anime and tourism has become appealing topic and being studied by many researchers all across the world. It all started by a fandom called ‘’otaku’’. Over the years, the behavior of the fans of otaku culture stated reshaping, creating a new phenomenon ‘’anime pilgrimage’’ in film tourism sphere. Anime pilgrimage includes visiting a location that was demonstrated in one of the scenes of series regardless of the fact that the destination itself is an ordinary place working as the most efficient way of marketing. To study the behavior of the ones who watch anime, open-ended questions were presented to people via internet. While, anime tourism and volunteer tourism have noticeable difference, there is actually a connection between them that was identified during the travels of anime motivated tourists. This article will examine not only anime tourism but also its necessity, how it affected touristic behavior with the help of small study and its role as advertisement for a destination.