~Opening up the sacred place of Haruhi Suzumiya~ Our university cooperated with the "Kita High School Open High School"

Faculty of Modern Social Studies ・Tanimura Dean and student volunteers from the university and graduate school cooperated in the "Kita High School Open High School" held on Sunday, November 23 at Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya Kita High School (merged with Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya Kozan High School and renamed "Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya Kurakuen High School" starting in 2025).
In the light novel "Suzumiya Haruhi Series," which has continued from 2003 to the present, the original author, Tanigawa Nagaru, is a graduate of Nishinomiya Kita High School, and many scenes from the school appear in his works. For this reason, Nishinomiya Kita High School has been well known as a "sacred place" among fans of the series, but until now it has not been open to the public and was considered a "phantom sacred place" among fans. However, when the school changed its name, it consulted with KADOKAWA, publisher of the "Haruhi Suzumiya" series, to see if the high school could take advantage of the "sacred site" to conduct educational activities that would contribute to students' exploratory learning and to the local community, and this event was realized.
The University was asked by Nishinomiya Kita High School to consult with Faculty of Modern Social Studies and Kaname Tanimura Dean, who are experts in the "pilgrimage to sacred places" culture, and decided to cooperate with Tanimura Dean in the form of visiting classes and participating in event management.
The event was held from 9:00 to 17:00, divided into two-hour periods, with the number of visitors changing four times. Each session was limited to 250 people, but the event was so popular that all the spaces were filled on the day applications opened (October 1, 2025), and many people came to the school that day to enjoy the "pilgrimage" to the Holy Land.
Tanimura Dean and six student volunteers from the university, along with Nishinomiya Kita High School (Nishinomiya Kurakuen High School) faculty, students, and local residents, volunteered their time to organize the event. Specifically, the international students were in charge of dealing with foreign visitors, while the Japanese students guided visitors and patrolled the event site. In addition to these activities, the students also worked energetically to conduct a survey of visitors to the event, which was conducted jointly with Nishinomiya Kita High School and Otemae University. The students also conducted interviews with students and visitors to ascertain the situation on the day of the event. According to Tanimura Dean, the findings from these survey activities will be returned to society in some form.

<Source: School Public Relations>