Introducing the setting of Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun

Hi. This is Kagefij, your other translator for Jaku-chara. Let me introduce myself a bit. After reading the early chapters translated by learning2tl, I got interested in Jaku-chara and quickly read through the Japanese volumes. Wanting to share the joy of the story with other English readers, I offered to help translate some parts with learning2tl helping with editing and TLC. This is my first translation project and I’m still not very good at it, so I’ll say my thanks here to learning2tl for all the editing.

I recently made a trip to Japan and made a quick trip to Saitama, where this story is set, so I want to take this chance to introduce a little bit about the area.

First, a quick summary of the information from the released chapters:

• Chapter 1 Part 2: Tomozaki’s house is one station away from a convenient terminal station.
• Chapter 1 Part 3: The story is set in Saitama and the characters attend the (fictional) Sekitomo High School.
• Chapter 2 Part 3 – 5: Tomozaki’s house is near Kitayono station while the terminal station was Omiya. The school is a 10 minutes train ride from Omiya (around 4 – 5 stations).

For those not familiar with Japan’s geography, Saitama is a prefecture just north of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. It has good connectivity to Tokyo, taking only 30 minutes to reach Shinjuku in Tokyo. The city area is well developed and can be considered an urban area. Omiya is the largest station and is a transportation hub in Saitama. Kitayono station, where Tomozaki’s lives, is one station (3 minutes ride) away from Omiya on the Saikyo line.

Now, I’ll show you the real-world photos.

First, let’s take quick look at Kitayono, the nearest station to Tomozaki’s house

Just outside Kitayono station. It’s not a very big station and only local trains stop here.

There’s a big shopping mall right outside the station.

The road outside the station. The road Tomozaki and Mimimi walked down in Chapter 3 Part 6 is probably similar to this.

A train at Kitayono station. As only local trains on the Saikyo line passes this station, it means that Tomozaki uses this train to commute to school.

Next, let’s take a look at Omiya station

Omiya station from the East exit. Omiya station is a large station with many trains passing here, including the high-speed Shinkansen.

I tried to find the convenience store for the first meeting between nanashi and NO NAME, but could not find it. I could only conclude that at that point, with no station names being mentioned yet, the author might not have considered basing it off a real location.

The only convenience store outside the east exit (since the chapter specifically mentions Tomozaki exiting the east exit). There’s no ashtray or vending machine as mentioned in the chapter.

A convenience store inside the station near the east exit, but inside the station building. This would make for a much more practical meeting point. However, there’s still no ashtray or vending machine.

Mame no Ki, the meeting point specified for the “date” in Chapter 4. Now, this is something that actually exists. If you compare it with the photo in Chapter 4 Part 1, you can see the circle on the floor, the thick trunk and the JR sign.

Right in front of the station.

A street a bit further away from station. You can see that there’s lots of shops and restaurants.

An arcade in front of the station, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tomozaki frequents here.

Cheese-in-Hamburg from Chapter 4. From a random shop on the street, since I am pretty sure that the shop mentioned in the book doesn’t exist.

One of the many Karaoke shops near Omiya station. (Minor spoiler: a possible location for Tomozaki’s part time job.)

Kobaton, the mascot mentioned in Chapter 4 Part 1. I didn’t really see it around the city. It’s probably used mainly for announcements made by the local government. (This advertises a special discount for parents.)

A 1000-yen barber inside Omiya station. It’s possible that Tomozaki used to have his haircuts here (Chapter 4 Part 3).

I hope you’ve enjoyed the real-world photo shown here and it helped you understand the setting of the story, even if only a little bit more.