Real locations from the show, and other cues taken from the setting.

I don't check MAL too often sorry this is late. I've gotten a lot of questions in my DMs, so the following response is going to explain the process behind how I found the area. I am copying and pasting this response to everyone and will also include it in the original forum topic.

I had just noticed a few things from some episodes that seemed to imply that these were real locations. There were certain details that were cues to me. These details in the animation evoked a realism in the setting which prompted me to make sure and check.

In order:
1. The narrowness of the roads and the layout of the parking lot of the restaurant. The irregularity with regard to the shape of the lot and how it was being used is reminiscent of the zoning laws near our outside of Tokyo. Particularly areas that are more commuter cities/towns that don't have big attractions. This, and the narrower roads (particularly the space outside of the driving lanes), is typical of urbanized areas that are a result of very loosely planned, or mostly unplanned urbanization or re-urbanization. Kawasaki as a more industrial/intermediary area is typical of this type of construction and zoning/layout.

2. The episode where Tachibana is visited by the manager after a flareup of her tendonitis? was quite realistic. The slopes of some of the streets, as well as the family restaurant they went to were quite realistic. This was more evidence that the show's setting was likely based on a real place.

3. Now that I think about it, there are many more examples of good detail but it's a bit too many to name. The library in Yokohama, and also the night scenes where the manager goes drinking with his college buddy also give a lot of realistic detail to the setting that was convinced me the show was based on real places.

4. Once I was convinced that the show was based on real places, I started from Yokohama, and expanded westward in a radius. The reason why I went west is because the more you go east, the closer it is to Tokyo, and that would not fit the idea of the Manager living in a more modest area compared to Yokohama. West tokyo, particularly northwest or north, of northwest Yokohama has very affluent neighborhoods, and by proxy the surrounding area is also very nice. Or so I thought... It was actually Northeast of Yokohama, so it took me a while to realize this until I started looking eastward.

5. The hanamatsuri 'the next station over' in one of the later episodes was a big giveaway that helped me verify if the area was right. The station's name was either mentioned or written and shown with a statue at the main entrance. The statue and the station looks exactly the same on google maps. This station actually took quite some time to find though because it wasn't exactly 'the next station over'. Likely, most convenient bus route at the closest bus stop to the diner went to a station, which was adjacent. But it wasn't according to when I looked at the map, exactly the closest station.

6. Based on these things, I did some simple searches for the nearest 'family restaurants' in that area, and was able to find very easily, the diner. I did multiple comparisons to make sure I wasn't making any mistakes and checked off and tried to find multiple places from the show.

Lastly...

By car, 'Minato Mirai' which is one of the harbors of Yokohama, takes around 30 minutes, which seems about right. By rail, it takes 50 minutes one way, and considering this you get a good feeling for how difficult it must have been to go to and from home to the diner. If you google 'Minato Mirai promenade', 'Minato Mirai pedestrian bridge', or 'Kishamichi bridge' you can see what was likely the bridge from their date in the show as well, though this might not be right, i'm only about 80% sure that this is the bridge.


What I wasn't able to find was the school that Tachibana went to, and also the cafe that she went to twice (once with cook, and once with the manager). I thought the school would be quite easy to find, but I couldn't find a school that had the layout that was depicted in the show.

Anyway appreciate the kind words, thanks