Your Lie in April
Pilgrimage in Nerima
Walk the cherry-blossom streets, riverside paths and real-life places behind Kousei and Kaori’s Tokyo—from Nerima to Shakujii Park and Oizumi-gakuen.
Photo: Guy-aan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped for display.
Your Lie in April still lives in Nerima
More than a decade after the anime aired, Your Lie in April remains unusually connected to the real neighborhood behind it. Nerima still distributes an official location map, and director Kyohei Ishiguro returned to these places in a 2026 tourism interview.
This guide does not try to collect every street ever associated with the series. It follows one route that works as an actual day out: get the official map in Nerima, move west to the riverside, slow down in Shakujii Park, take an anime-linked café break, then finish around Oizumi.
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Your Lie in April · CDJapan
Product images are shown only inside matching CDJapan affiliate cards. Availability can change; Japanese editions may not include English subtitles or English text.
Your Lie in April Blu-ray Disc Box
The strongest single Japanese release for reconnecting with the series before the trip: 22 TV episodes plus the OAD in newly illustrated box packaging. CDJapan currently lists it as region-free, with Japanese audio and no subtitles.
Availability checked September 11, 2026. Main box and the three displayed sub-picks were listed by CDJapan as available or supplier-stocked during the final implementation check.
One Nerima spring route
The route is designed around the experience, not the maximum number of pins. Times are flexible: photography, blossom conditions and your café stop matter more than hitting a rigid timetable.
Nerima
Pick up the official location map at Coconeri, then see Nerima Culture Center.
Nerima-Takanodai
Move west on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line.
Shakujii River
Follow the riverside toward the park instead of jumping station to station.
Shakujii Park + La Primeur
Scenery first, then the anime-linked waffle stop.
Oizumi-gakuen
Finish among quieter streets and the spring cherry-tree avenue.
Use this as the middle of the route
Shakujii Park sits between the riverside approach and the Oizumi finish. For turn-by-turn navigation, open each exact stop in Google Maps rather than relying on a screenshot.
Older pilgrimage guides are now wrong here
Nerima Ward says Heisei Tsutsuji Park beside the Culture Center is closed during major reconstruction scheduled from April 2026 through approximately August 2027. The park toilets are unavailable, and the pedestrian-deck route from Nerima Station toward the Culture Center has also been closed since August 24, 2026.
You can still visit Nerima Culture Center. Approach at street level, follow current signs and never enter the construction area for comparison photos.
Get the official map before you start
The Nerima Tourist Information Center still distributes the official Your Lie in April location map. Even if every pin is already saved on your phone, starting here gives you local context before you choose which places are worth your time.
Nerima Culture Center
The hall remains an active cultural facility next to Nerima Station and is part of Nerima’s official anime-location material. Visit it as a working venue, not a set: exterior photography is simple; interiors depend on events and staff rules.
Current note: the adjacent park is the part under reconstruction, not the Culture Center itself.
Walk the Shakujii River from the Takanodai side
Representative Shakujii River spring view elsewhere in Nerima—not the exact Takanodai anime frame. Photo: Koujigenba / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped for display.
In a 2026 interview with Nerima Tourism, director Kyohei Ishiguro specifically discussed the Shakujii River promenade approached from Nerima-Takanodai and said he used it for Kousei and Kaori scenes.
Older pilgrimage research places the familiar Episode 2 riverside sequence around the Minami-Tanaka housing area, roughly a short walk from Nerima-Takanodai. Follow the public promenade toward Shakujii Park.
Shakujii Park
If you only have time for one landscape stop on this route, make it Shakujii Park. It has anime-location value, but it is also a rewarding Tokyo park even without shot-for-shot reconstruction.
Cherry blossoms in Shakujii Park. Photo: Guy-aan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Make the park a chapter, not another pin
Walk the pond edge, look for the quieter paths and let the route breathe. In spring, blossom conditions should decide how long you stay—not a rigid schedule.
If the boats are operating and the wait is reasonable, seeing the pond from the water is a good optional experience rather than a mandatory add-on.
Illustrative café photo—not La Primeur’s actual waffle. Photo: The Anchor / Unsplash.
La Primeur is the natural break
This is the strongest food stop on the pilgrimage because the anime connection is not something we need to invent. Nerima’s anime map identifies the shop as a series location, and La Primeur’s current café page explicitly lists an apple-and-nut caramel waffle that appeared in Your Lie in April.
Order it if available, sit down, and let the pilgrimage stop feeling like a race between coordinates.
Hours and irregular closures can change. The photograph is an illustrative café image; it is not presented as La Primeur’s actual waffle.
Finish around Oizumi-gakuen
Oizumi-gakuen Station north entrance. Photo: SEIBU LINER / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and compressed for display.
Director Ishiguro described the route from Shakujii Park toward the cherry trees of Oizumi-gakuen-dori as a spring golden route. That is the right way to treat this section: not every residential road needs another location card.
Use the final leg to absorb the neighborhood. In blossom season, the avenue north of the station is the payoff; outside spring, it is still a quiet way to finish before returning to central Tokyo.
The small Kami-Shakujii crossing
For some fans, the route should end here instead. In the 2026 Nerima interview, Ishiguro identified a small railway crossing between Kami-Shakujii and Musashi-Seki as the location he remembers most strongly.
It does not fit as neatly into the main Oizumi route, so this guide keeps it optional rather than forcing every visitor into a longer detour.
Safety first: never step onto the tracks, stop inside the crossing, block residents or set up a tripod in the pedestrian path. Railway scenery here is also expected to change over time as grade-separation work progresses.
Spring is the first choice—but not the only good trip
Late March–early April
First choice for the full emotional and visual effect. Check the current Tokyo blossom forecast and recent local photos; bloom dates shift every year.
Green season
Quieter and still attractive around the river and park. A good alternative if you care more about walking than blossom photography.
Weekday over weekend
If your itinerary allows it, a weekday makes residential streets, café timing and location photography easier.
What has changed since the anime aired?
Heisei Tsutsuji Park
Temporarily unavailable during major reconstruction. Do not follow older guides into the fenced area.
Small urban details
Signs, shopfronts, landscaping and street furniture have changed over more than a decade.
Old food references
Do not assume every business from a 2015 pilgrimage blog still exists in the same form. This guide only promotes currently verifiable stops.
Railway scenery
The Kami-Shakujii area is expected to change in the longer term as railway and redevelopment work progresses.
This is a neighborhood, not an anime set
Most of this pilgrimage passes through ordinary residential streets and working facilities. Keep doorways and sidewalks clear, do not photograph into homes, avoid identifiable photos of children, never enter school grounds, stay out of active railway crossings and ask before doing elaborate photography inside a business.
The best pilgrimage photo is not worth making somebody’s daily life harder.
A short checklist—then stop planning
- Save the route and key pins offline.
- Check La Primeur’s current café hours.
- Check the current Heisei Tsutsuji Park construction notice.
- Check blossom conditions if spring scenery matters to you.
- Bring a charged phone and an IC card.
- Leave time for photography and a proper café break.
- Decide whether the optional crossing is worth the extra travel.
- Use the official Nerima map for additional locations rather than forcing them all into one day.
Nerima works best when you leave enough time to walk it.
Planning your Your Lie in April pilgrimage
Is Your Lie in April really set in Nerima?
Yes. Nerima has officially promoted locations from the series for years and continues to distribute a location map. Several stops in this guide are also discussed directly by director Kyohei Ishiguro in a 2026 Nerima Tourism interview.
How long does this route take?
Plan about 5–6 hours for the recommended Nerima-to-Oizumi route. Add more time if you take a long café break, rent a boat or add the optional railway-crossing extension.
Do I need a car?
No. The route is designed around the Seibu rail network and walking.
Can I visit Heisei Tsutsuji Park now?
No. Nerima Ward says the park is closed during major reconstruction scheduled through approximately August 2027. Nerima Culture Center itself remains a usable stop.
Can I still eat the waffle from the anime?
La Primeur’s current café page lists an apple-and-nut caramel waffle connected to Your Lie in April. Check current café hours and availability before the trip.
What if I only have two or three hours?
Choose the western half: Nerima-Takanodai → Shakujii River → Shakujii Park → La Primeur. It gives you the strongest landscape experience without turning the day into transit.