Higurashi: When They Cry

The village of Hinamizawa is **Shirakawa-go** in Gifu, a UNESCO World Heritage site of steep thatched *gassho-zukuri* farmhouses in a mountain valley. The viewpoint above the village, the shrine, the suspension bridge over the Shogawa river and the houses themselves all appear in the series, and none of it has been changed for tourism because none of it could be. **This matters more here than anywhere else on this site: people live in these houses.** They are homes, not exhibits, and the village has had to introduce rules — no drones, no parking on the verges after 17:00, no entering private ground — because of visitor numbers. Go, but go as a guest.