A birds-eye view of Inaba.
Inaba (稲羽市, Inaba-shi)? is a location in the Persona series.
Appearances[]
- Persona 3 Portable
- Persona 4 / Golden
- Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax
- Persona 4: Dancing All Night
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Profile[]
Persona 4[]
A rural town in Japan and the central area in which the game takes place. It is where the protagonist moves to when his parents went to work overseas, leaving him in the care of his maternal uncle. Not long after settling into Inaba, strange murders began to happen that took the usually quiet town by storm.
Most of the town's younger population consider the town "boring" and in the "middle of nowhere", which is a theme of the game and a sentiment expressed by Yosuke Hanamura and Yukiko Amagi, although some are able to take pride in this aspect, finding it relaxing and peaceful. Inaba is surrounded by rolling hills, crops and riverbanks, and it tends to rain quite often.
According to an old man who often stands near the Tatsuhime Shrine, Inaba's history began as a coal mining town. The influx of miners was the reason why Inaba managed to develop into the kind of town it is today. It may be traveled to by train stopping at the Yasoinaba train station, preceding stations being Higashi Inaba and Hibari. The closest city to Inaba is Okina City, where the protagonist and his friends occasionally travel to.
One of Inaba's most prominent quirks due to its small size is the strong sense of community: specifically, people from Inaba are talkative and information spreads fast. They are at first very caring towards one-another in nature, regardless of how they express themselves: one man will point out that although the older folk might be mean-spirited with the youth, that's their way of saying they care about them.
This does have a negative aspect to it, as rumors are easy to circulate, whether from friends or simply mass media. At first these rumors are merely subtopics of discussion that fade over time, such as with the affair surrounding Mayumi Yamano, but over time rumors would leak towards a more unavoidable general consensus. Yukiko Amagi notes of the strange nature of people, saying that they "always talk about other people but never themselves," thinking that they're "scared of something."[1] Chie Satonaka would later comment that people are forgetful about murders and real incidents, but are able to remember rumors from a long time.[2]
This turns for the worst when the fog appears before December and persists for nearly a month, as it leaves them prone to even further exposure of rumors: in fact, one of it being poison convinces some they're sick, dividing people on their opinions on the matter, or even outright believing in flimsy opinions from the majority. They also lose touch with one-another as the fog blinds them from interacting on an even ground, especially surrounding the debate of whether the fog is truly poisonous or if it's just in people's heads. Lastly, people become comfortable with not being seen by others due to the fog, which makes them lax with being openly interested in rumors of the end of the world and people becoming monsters. In short, the fog acts as an isolating presence that in turn blinds people from the truth: even if it were physically harmless in itself, many people see it as a bad omen due to the consequences.
Golden[]
Marie has become a minor land goddess of the town after becoming Izanami-no-Mikoto, allowing her to influence its weather. This is shown in the Epilogue: when Yu came to visit Inaba during holiday, Marie decided to make the sky clear despite how it was raining before in the weather forecast.
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax[]
Inaba is transformed by Sho Minazuki and the Malevolent Entity into a realm similar to the TV World, with sinister red fog filling the realm. Yasogami High becomes a tower similar to Tartarus and the heart of their plans. Marie is revealed to be connected with Inaba and anything bad that happens to the town likewise is harmful to her. It is confirmed by the veteran Persona users Akihiko Sanada and Junpei Iori that Sho and Malevolent Entity turned Inaba into a second Dark Hour area, allowing the Persona users to summon their Persona freely during this crisis.
Key Locations[]
- Yasogami High School: The local high school where the protagonist and his newfound friends attend. Attendance is mandatory on weekday mornings, and is explorable after school.
- Junes Department Store: The shopping complex whose food court is where the protagonist's investigation team assembles, calling it their "Special Headquarters." This is also where they enter the Midnight Channel, via the large TV in the Junes electronics section. Accessible during weekdays after school, and on weekend afternoons.
- Central Shopping District: The street where most of Inaba's family businesses are located, but the majority of the shops are closed, due to the overwhelming success of Junes. Accessible on weekdays after school, and on weekend afternoons.
- Samegawa Flood Plain: The main path to reach Yasogami High School, whose river bed is where the protagonist can fish. Accessible on weekdays after school, and on weekend afternoons and evenings.
- Dojima Residence: The protagonist's temporary home in the town. When he returns here, time passes automatically to evening.
- Shichiri Beach: Added in Persona 4 Golden, the protagonist and his friends spend their summer vacation here. It is a location fairly far from Inaba, and can only be accessed via scooter.
- Inaba Municipal Hospital: The hospital of the town. Appears in Kanji's, Yumi's and Sayoko's Social Links. Later, Dojima and Namatame are here.
- Amagi Inn: The town's oldest historical landmark which is located upstream of the Samegawa River. It is known for its hot springs.
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- The storyline for the female protagonist in Persona 3 Portable includes an event which involves the Gekkoukan High Sports Club (depending on the player's choice of joining Tennis or Volleyball earlier in the game) going to Inaba to train alongside the Yasoinaba High School's Sports Club. The event references and foreshadows a few events leading to Persona 4, including the cameo of a middle-school aged Yukiko Amagi.
- The town's name is a reference to the legend of the Hare of Inaba. However, the demon Hare of Inaba itself does not appear in any Persona game. It might also possibly be a reference to one of the characters in Megami Ibunroku Persona, Masao Inaba.
- As of Persona Q2, Hare of Inaba is a Persona.
- Inaba is based off the Japanese city of Fuefuki (笛吹市, Fuefuki-shi)?, in the Yamanashi prefecture.
- The Yasoinaba Station is based on real-life Isawa Onsen Station. [3] As of 2016, the building that the in-game train station was inspired from was demolished and has been replaced with a new building, though the station itself still remains.[4][5]
References[]
- ↑
"W-Well, that aside... Is it me, or does the town seem kind of strange lately? Everyone is in high spirits, for some reason... And they all talk about other people, but never themselves."
—Yukiko Amagi, Persona 4"Really? I don't think it's anything special. Now that the murder case is solved, people feel relaxed, that's all."
—Chie Satonaka, Persona 4"That's how society is. They all just want to get in on the latest trend. People get excited fast and lose interest even faster... It goes 'round and 'round. There's no underlying reason for it."
—Rise Kujikawa, Persona 4"I don't know... It stil seems a little too weird... It's like... they're all afraid of something. Oh... Sorry. I just had this feeling."
—Yukiko Amagi, Persona 4 - ↑
"Even if someone's been killed... everyone just forgets it so easily. But rumors they hear from friends and TV get remembered for a long time... Why is that? It's been a while since the first two incidents... Do you think we'll find anyone who still remembers them?"
—Chie Satonaka, 12/5, Persona 4 - ↑ http://blog.livedoor.jp/kinisoku/archives/3520580.html
- ↑ 新装・石和温泉駅にワイン試飲機 観光案内所で全国初
- ↑ [1], Archived version