‘Shogun’ Producer And ‘Tokyo Vice’ Production Consultant Highlight Japan’s Film Infrastructure Challenge

While Japan has bolstered its production incentives ecosystem, infrastructure remains a key challenge in the country, Shogun producer Eriko Miyagawa highlighted at an MPA seminar at the Tokyo International Film Festival today. 

“We were always going to shoot in Vancouver because of the space we needed and the access to infrastructure for a show like Shogun, which is a period show that requires a lot of sound spaces — and back lots where we can build fishing villages and castle walls,” said Miyagawa. “It was my first time shooting in Vancouver and it was really impressive, the infrastructure was there and the housing options were pretty broad. The studio and locations were a half an hour- to a 45-minute drive away. It was very compact and effectively supported our needs.”

On whether Shogun‘s upcoming seasons may shoot in Japan, Miyagawa said: “It’s not up to me, but I would love to, personally, and I will always be pitching some ideas and opportunities. I’m doing
that now.”

Japan has thrown political weight behind a slew of tax incentives and rebate schemes, with several senior government and ministerial reps giving speeches at the MPA seminar and heralding ambitions to elevate Japan into a global content hub. 

Although Japan’s incentives for large-scale international projects are robust and generous (offering support up to 50% of production costs in some cases), Miyagawa pointed out that the country still needs to build more sound stages, production facilities and production offices, and set aside space for back office staff, art and costume departments — and critically, have these in close proximity with a diverse range of locations, like beaches and old castle walls.

Junko Kusunoki, production consultant on HBO’s Tokyo Vice and president of Japan’s Film Solutions Co Ltd, echoed a similar sentiment, stating that “sound stages in Japan are very small by Hollywood standards.”

She added that local productions often do not require so much space, which creates a dilemma for building production infrastructure in the country — while there is a desire to build larger sound stages and production facilities, stakeholders have to ensure that infrastructure will be used consistently throughout the year. 

There is also competition to book out some of Toho Studios’ sound stages, where Netflix has booked out several stages for their productions.

“With Tokyo Vice, we were somewhat lucky, because we shot during Covid and nobody was shooting at that time, so we were able to access one of the biggest studios in Toho and do whatever we wanted there,” said Kusunoki. “But in season two, the industry was back up running, so we weren’t able to keep the studios that we wanted and it’s becoming harder to lock these studios in, with other competitors.”

Kusunoki also raised the possibility of developments in AI to reduce the need for such big spaces, and help productions work with the smaller spaces that Japan already possesses. 

On the topic of AI, Miyagawa added: “We should have a cooldown and understand what VFX is and what AI is. Multiplying background has been done for decades and that’s a very different technology. In that respect, we have not had to pay background as much. I think the train has left the station. There are so many possibilities, and I think we should do our best to improve our storytelling and see how we can take advantage of this new technology, while finding ways to protect people who work in the industry.”

Kusunoki added that having a quicker decision timeline or turnaround on whether a production incentive has been awarded to a project will help make Japan’s incentives scheme more appealing to foreign productions. She cited examples from her experience juggling the application’s requirement to hire crew and lock down their schedules, while waiting to hear back about the application outcome. She said that she has had projects end up moving to Thailand and other countries to film, due to the long wait times for application decisions.

Additionally, for Miyagawa, other areas that Japan’s content industry can improve on are the wage and work conditions for crew.

“We need to have a hard and honest look about the state of the industry, the wages and the work conditions, because there is a shortage, and it’s not an attractive field to enter for a lot of young people,” said Miyagawa. “I’m always looking for young, bilingual people to to join me, but it’s very discouraging when you know the wages are so low and that you have to work 18 hours a day, and there’s no overtime. I think we’re turning away great people from the market.”

She expressed her hopes that Japanese people at home and abroad will also embrace the film industry with a similar excitement that she recalled seeing among Chinese students, in the early 2000s.

“I remember when I was in Beijing in 2002, and subsequently between 2005 and 2008, when China was opening up, and all these big Hollywood shows were coming, and the Chinese film industry was also growing so fast,” said Miyagawa. “All the Chinese students who had studied in the US were coming back and choosing to work as crew and there were so many opportunities, and they could flourish. There were so many visible career paths that they could be excited about, and I remember feeling very jealous of my Chinese counterparts.”

At the same time, both Miyagawa and Kusunoki acknowledged that Japan’s film and television professionals are increasingly open and eager to collaborate with foreign projects and crew, which bodes well for the industry’s future.

“I definitely feel that over the years, there’s more openness, both ways, especially from the Hollywood side, more eagerness to to collaborate — and also willingness to work with more Japanese crew when they’re shooting in Japan, and work around Japan’s system to create a hybrid system.”

Australian producer Schuyler Weiss (Elvis) and Thai producer Apinat ‘Obb’ Siricharoenjit (Alien: Earth) also featured on the MPA panel and provided insight on their experiences working with local tax incentives and foreign productions.

Weiss said that Asia and the APAC region should consider a broader coalition of film crews — similar to what he has seen work well in Europe.

“I think that in Australia, and generally, in the APAC region, we might think about collaborating across borders for a very specific reason,” said Weiss. “In a continent like Europe, they have very different mindsets and they collaborate across borders and with different countries. By default, you watch a European film and you see a rolling list of seven different countries and their film agencies that collaborated, and they’re not necessarily the ones where the film is set.

“That’s how you can build a broad coalition to get more money, research, sources, knowledge and more collaboration on screen. I would love to see us take more of that attitude in this region. I would love to see an Australian, Japanese, South Korean and Thai co-production that is not because of some specific unique need that only ever came up in this one movie, but just because we want to work together and collaborate.”

Siricharoenjit added: “Do you know why Budapest was so successful? It’s not just about the incentives. When Budapest started out and they didn’t have any crew, it was collaboration between these countries, where they can bring in crew from around Europe to shoot in Budapest or even Bulgaria. We need something like that in the Asia-Pacific region too.”