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Need Help Finding Culturally-Appropriate Setting For a Comic

Phantomsky

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11 Mar 2017
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Hi there,

I'm a comic book writer that is currently working on a manga-styled horror comic that's set in Japan.
I have never been to Japan but have studied the country and culture to the best of my ability in order to write as authentic a story as possible and to not step on any cultural toes, but I am having trouble with writing the setting of the comic.

Without getting into too many details. The comic is essentially a send up to Western style slasher movies but with a typical cast you'd find in a high school/realistic slice of life manga.

The setting (in my current draft) is a forested area with a prominent mountain and lake, along with a personal villa/lakehouse type building (owned by one of the characters, a rich girl).

I have been looking into a number of parks and forests through Japan's many tourism sites, but not finding one that meets these criteria, such as Akan National Park that seems to not have any private residences allowed.
So I've come onto this forum for two bits of advice.

Is there a place in Japan that meets what my setting needs (a mountain, a lake, and allows personal residential buildings in the area) that I've missed and that I can look into?

And if not, would it be appropriate (and easier) for me to either A. Fudge the real life facts about the location to justify the presence of a lake house for the characters, or B. Create a fictional location/mountain/lake to justify the setting and not unintentionally misrepresent an actual park/forest/location?

Many thanks.
 
Don't now what you mean by Akan not allowing private residences. I live only a couple of hours from there.

How about Shikotsu Lake or Toya Lake (both also in Hokkaido)? Or any of the lakes surrounding Fuji?
 
Don't now what you mean by Akan not allowing private residences. I live only a couple of hours from there.

How about Shikotsu Lake or Toya Lake (both also in Hokkaido)? Or any of the lakes surrounding Fuji?
Sorry, I meant allowed next to/right on the edge of the lake. I haven't found a lot of places allow this.
Okay, these look promising, thank you very much! So far it's just finding the right place that A. Allows for the lake house to be where it is (actually next to the lake), and B. Is remote enough at the time the comic takes place (near the end of Summer) to fit the typical setting of a horror story (I.E. Not a whole lot of people around besides the cast)
 
B. Create a fictional location/mountain/lake

I vote this B↑ because this B↓ throws reality right out the window anyway.

B. Is remote enough at the time the comic takes place (near the end of Summer) to fit the typical setting of a horror story (I.E. Not a whole lot of people around besides the cast)

The setting (in my current draft) is a forested area with a prominent mountain and lake, along with a personal villa/lakehouse type building (owned by one of the characters, a rich girl).

Sounds like 2/3 of the episodes of The Whistler

The Whistler - Wikipedia
 
End of summer is a colorful time of year, and that's when a lot of Japanese love to travel and watch the fall colors as they bask in onsens and rotemburo. So, I don't know where you got the idea that it's a slow time of year for such tourists.

Don't worry too much about whether it's legal or common for private homes to be near lakes. Onsens are, and that seems to be what counts. You're writing fiction anyway, so bend the truth a little if you have to. That's why they call it fiction.
 
Many (all? most?) of Japan's few lakes are in national parks, so that explains why you don't see residences on them. There's a farm on the NW side of Akan, but the house itself is not on the lake. If you want only a lake setting, you might have to settle for a tiny one outside of a park. You could bend reality like I write earlier. You could also say that someone's family owned property next to the lake before the park was established, and it was never changed, so the person today is safe for that reason.

How about a seacoast home, or even a river?
 
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