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.
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
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. [1] 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.[2][3]
References