简体中文
Tired of catching measly Rattatas and Pidgeys? A new smartphone app lets you capture gods and goddesses in this shrine-laden town in western Japan.
The “Takachiho GO” app, designed after the famous “Pokemon Go” game, was created by Yosei Ito, a 36-year-old operator of a computer system development company who wanted to promote his hometown of Takachiho.
Kushifurujinja, one of the many Shinto shrines in the town, is within a one-minute walk of his parents’ home.
Ito said he would catch bugs on the shrine’s grounds during his childhood, and he still loves strolling around the towering Japanese cedar trees there.
“When I’m surrounded by large trees at the shrine, I feel the problems facing me are not serious and I can relax, although I do not know why,” he said. “There are typically few people in lesser-known shrines, so they are the best places for people to think things over.”
Immediately after “Pokemon Go” was released in Japan in July, Ito hit upon the idea of a similar app for Takachiho during conversations with a friend.
The area was designated by the Food and Agriculture Organization as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System last year under the name of the Takachihogo-Shiibayama Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry System.
Ito parodied the registration name to come up with the title of his app.
He spent one month developing Takachiho GO for Apple Inc.’s iPhones and has made it downloadable for free.
Takachiho GO is based on the theme of “traveling to meet myriad gods and deities.”
According to legend, Ninigi no Mikoto, the grandson of sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, first visited Takachiho when he descended to Earth.
Users of the app can find deities when they come within 50 meters of shrines. Pushing pins on the map will start the smartphone camera. The deities are caught if they are photographed.
Ninigi no Mikoto and other gods emerge at Kushifurujinja shrine.
The gods for the app were drawn by Ito’s younger sister, Chiiko, 31, who works as an illustrator. She asked a chief priest of a shrine for descriptions of the deities.
Takachiho is home to 88 shrines.
So far, 25 shrines honoring 33 deities have been registered in the app. Ito plans to include more of them, and he is looking for sponsors so that premiums will be offered for players who find all the registered gods.
(The Asahi Shimbun)
