Visiting the Star Wars locales in Tunisia in 2009 whetted my appetite for doing something similar a bit closer to home. Those Tokyo shooting location posts weren’t particularly good but they did catch a bit of attention and indeed featured in a magazine and newspaper in Japan. Fast forward 18 months and I took a trip 500 kilometres south to the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto etc.) to track down the movie locations for a handful of international productions including ‘Lost in Translation‘ (2003), ‘The Last Samurai‘ (2003), ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ (2006) and ‘You Only Live Twice‘ (1967) among others.

The overnight bus from Tokyo to Osaka was long and sleepless. Why I didn’t book a ticket to Kyoto or just disembark there I really don’t know! As it was, I took an immediate train from Osaka back to Kyoto followed by a subway to my first place of interest.

Fushimi Inari has been an overly popular shrine with tourists for the last decade or so but back then it really didn’t attract the kind of crowds seen since. I pretty much had the place to myself for the hour or so I was there and even when I departed at around 9:00 am it was still fairly deserted. Such days are long gone now!

It was ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ (2006) which brought this place to my attention as there is a beautiful scene starring a trail of wonderful looking torii gates. The filming locations post for that film is one of the most popular posts ever to appear on Tokyo Fox which surprises me as many people have been there since and done much better jobs of showcasing the beauty of the place. More details here.

Nijo-jo was next as I’d failed to visit it on my two previous visits to Kyoto due to time constraints. It was nice enough and the palace gardens were fairly pleasant, but it didn’t do too much for me.

There was the briefest of photo-stops at Kinkakuji (a.k.a. Golden Pavillion) after that and then it was a frustrating journey to the next temple.

Getting to Kiyomizu-dera by bus took an eternity due to the overly congested roads. In terms of movies, it’s ‘Wasabi‘ (2001) starring Jean Reno which featured a scene or two at this majestic temple. More details here.

On the second day I headed off to Himeji station where I then took a bus to Mount Shosha which is home to Engyoji Temple.

This temple was where Tom Cruise’s and Ken Watanabe’s characters first meet in ‘The Last Samurai‘ (2003). More details here.

Back in central Himeji I then visited Japan’s premier castle, Himeji-jo. However, back then it was under reconstruction so the main part was all covered up. This was my second time to visit the castle which was used in the James Bond movie ‘You Only Live Twice‘ (1967). More details here.

On the way back to Osaka, I dropped by Kobe as friends Neil and John were there. I walked around for a bit before meeting up with them at a British bar.

The following morning, I took a 30-minute bus ride from Mukomachi station to Yoshimine-dera.

It appears in ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ (2006) as the temple where young Chiyo gives her money in prayer before ringing the bell. More details here.

Back in Kyoto, I then went to Chion-in Temple which, with the addition of CGI, was seen in ‘The Last Samurai‘ (2003).

Heian-jingu shrine was next and this provided a double dose of filming folklore as both ‘Lost in Translation‘ (2003) and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ (2006) included brief scenes here. More details here.

The day was rounded off yet again with another Hub but this time it was the ground floor one (not so common in Japan) in Gion, Kyoto’s famous Geisha district.

My final day involved a detour to Hikone in Shiga Prefecture as I wanted to visit Hikone-jo Castle which was in a fairly minor film called ‘3 Ninjas Kick Back‘ (1994).

It was actually the gardens beneath the castle which featured more prominently in this kid’s film. More details here.

Despite having been based in Osaka the whole time, I had actually seen very little of it so my final afternoon and evening (ahead of my night bus back to Tokyo) was spent looking around the typical tourist sights in Dotonbori.

In the intervening years I have been back to this region of Japan multiple times and more filming locations have been checked off but this particular trip in May 2011 was the one that really got the ball rolling with some of the biggest international productions to have ever been made in Japan.

Click here to read ‘The Complete A-Z of Filming Locations on Tokyo Fox’

Click here to read ‘A Family Trip to the Kyoto Temple Which Featured In ‘Lost in Translation’ For About 3 Seconds!’

Click here to read ‘Inside the Castle Grounds Which Featured in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)’

Click here to read ‘The Japanese Castle Which Can Rival Himeji-jo For Appearing In Movies’