Interest

Hanasaku Iroha Credited with 7.4% Rise in Hot Spring's Visitors

The sightseeing organization of the Yuwaku hot spring inn in Kanazawa City has credited the Hana-Saku Iroha television anime series for a 7.4% rise in guests during the last fiscal year compared to the year before. The inn saw 62,261 guests between April 2011-March 2012. The inn specifically saw an increase of 26.9% in guests in August, and a 40% increase in guests in September. The television series originally aired between April and September last year.

The setting of Hana-Saku Iroha is based on Kanazawa City, and the inn was used as the model for the inn featured in the series. The anime's story centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old Tokyo native who suddenly ends up working at a provincial hot spring inn after her mother flees town to avoid debts.

During the first episode of the series, the mother of the high school protagonist Ohana showed the name and phone number of Ohana's new home, the Kissuisō inn. When fans then called the inn's number, they heard an answering machine message from Ohana (Kanae Itō). Later that same month, the phone number began taking "reservations" — via the part-time worker Nako Oshimizu, as voiced by Aki Toyosaki.

The production committee of the anime series announced in October that it is producing a "new visual work" of Hana-Saku Iroha this year, although it did not specify if the new work will be released on television, on video, or in theaters — or even if the work will be animated.

Source: The Toyama Shimbun

Image © Hana-Iro Ryokan Kumiai