Yamato (film) - Production

Production

Filming for Yamato took place from March to June 2005 at a closed-down shipyard of Hitachi Zosen Corporation in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture. Approximately JPY 600 million was spent in building a 1:1 scale set of the forward section and the portside anti-aircraft guns. The starboard side, aft section and the barrels of the A turret were not built since the film only required scenes on the port side. However, compliance issues with Japan's Building Standards Act prevented the reproduction of the Yamato's pagoda tower. Instead, photographs of the Yamato Museum's own 1:10 Yamato model was used for post-production. The interior scenes were made on a sound stage, but a hall near the set shows the various rooms and props reproduced for the film.

The set was opened to the public on 17 July 2005. Approximately one million people visited the set by the time it closed doors on 7 May 2006. The dismantling of the set began four days later and finished on June 13. The gun replicas were transferred to the Yamato Museum while the city of Onomichi kept the props and costumes.