Even before ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013) was released, I was tracking down some of the locations based solely on the trailer. Then, in 2014 I cycled the Wolverine trail of Tokyo and last year I went to Fukuyama and Tomonoura in Hiroshima-ken which filled in for “Nagasaki” as did another island some 65 km further west.

Scenes in Tomonoura are blended in with Omishima island in Ehime prefecture and for a while now I have had my heart set on visiting this Seto Island Sea location to complete my mission of having been to all the locales used in the sixth X-Men film. I hoped to do it last Christmas but it wasn’t to be. No messing this time though, and following a couple of days in Okayama, I took a bus from Fukuyama to Omishima (below) where I rented a bicycle to get round the island.

Omishima is actually just south of Okunoshima a.k.a. Rabbit Island and first appears on the 58 minute mark when a tree has fallen on the road and Mariko (Tao Okamoto) tells Logan (Hugh Jackman) that some help is needed to get things back to normal again. In his trademark white vest he goes about chopping the tree with an axe.

The Miyaura Port area is in the central north part of Omishima where junctions 21 and 51 intersect and, as expected, the place was almost completely deserted though that may have been partially down to the fact it was a national holiday. Despite cycling around the port area a couple of times I was still having problems pinpointing the exact match-up so had to ask a local family. Eventually, the father worked out the correct angles having looked at the screenshots on my tablet.

As it was, the area used for filming was now out of bounds or so I thought! I couldn’t understand the kanji script on the sign so asked a workman sitting in a car near the sign to read it to me. It may have been that just vehicles can’t go round that far as he gestured that he had no problem with me venturing off past the sign on foot though that may have been more to embarrassment as I interrupted his viewing of the porn magazine in his hands! Look at the two shots below and you’ll notice the backgrounds are exactly the same.

This post features the shots as you see them on screen so you’ll come across the wall where Logan sits down to take a break due to tiredness before the aforementioned scenes. As Logan munches away on an apple he then recognises the torii gate in the distance which in reality is not there!

The area where Logan saved Mariko’s grandfather in the wake of the U.S. dropping the bomb on Nagasaki in WWII on 9th August, 1945 is Bonna Point Reserve in Kurnell just south of Sydney. Whether the man-hole really exists, I don’t know!

It’s back to Tomonoura on 63 minutes as rain descends down on the pair and six minutes later he wakes and notices Mariko is missing. As he gives chase, Omishima returns again and the Uchiumi Kensetsu construction company sign below is clearly visible in the backdrop of Logan as one of the Yakuza shoots a bullet into his right thigh.

The red bridge (below) can be seen in the background as Logan continues to give chase and tosses one of the three Yakuza guys away from the car as it pulls away and the other two escape with Mariko in their grasp.

That is pretty much the last scene to include Omishima (other than a quick shot in the car in the scene that follows) and it’s back to Tomonoura (below) on 70 minutes as Yukio (Rila Fukushima) pulls up in her car as Logan hobbles towards her. They drive off with a roaring sound, go over a mountain and within seconds are back in Tokyo albeit one looking very much like a street in Sydney!

Click on the following links for other Wolverine-related posts…

Zojoji Temple a.k.a. The Wolverine Temple     Review: Films Set In Japan – The Wolverine (2013)     Cycling The Wolverine Tokyo Trail…In One Day!     Fukuyama – The Wolverine Filming Locations     Tomonoura – The Wolverine Filming Locations