peter Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Hey guys, just got back from Japan this morning...sick as a dog and really jet lagged but I wanted to get these pics out. My trip this time took me to a couple of places....Tokyo, Niigata, Osaka, Himeji, Onamichi then back to Osaka. I was lucky enough to to visit the movie set of Yamato (and lucky enough to have a girlfriend who is patient enough to put up with my otaku ways). Anyways, here they are: Edited March 30, 2006 by peter Quote
peter Posted March 30, 2006 Author Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Last of the pics...I've got a few more, but I'm feeling like a bit of a picture whore. A bit about the trip. We arrived in Onamichi in the late evening and stayed at the Green Hill Hotel right across the water from the movie set. The hotel was relatively cheap for Japanese standards...about $85 for the two of us. There's a ferry service that runs over to the island where the set is...100 yen (about 1 dollar) each way per person. We took the ferry over in the evening and the set was closed. We couldn't see $hit. Only a glimpse while on the ferry, but couldn't see a thing once on the island. Anyways, that glimpse sent chills up my spine. The thing hidden in the shadows was friggin huge...wish I could have caught that moment. Seeing the real thing 60 years ago must have been pretty jaw-dropping. Anyways, the next day, we went back and got entrance to the set for 500 yen (about 5 bucks). We saw the movie set across the water and it was huge. There was a dry dock for ship building right next to the movie set and this mammoth Yamato 1/1 scale mock up was only a little more than half the whole ship. If they built the complete ship, there would be no need for ferries to get across the water. For you die cast fans, there was actually metal content for the set. Well, most of it was wood, but even up close, the finish on it looked real enough. When I was little and used to watch Space Battleship Yamato (Starblazers for us fans over here in North America), I fell in love with this ship. I've been collecting Yamato stuff since then...almost as much as my Macross addiction. Seeing this thing was unbelievable. It's a shame it's to be dissassembled and destroyed in about a month. If only they had built it in Kure, the movie set might have found a permanent home at the Yamato Museum there. The only dissapointment I had was they hadn't completed the whole ship...unrealistic thinking I know, but imagine how cool it would have been? Oh yeah, a little bit about my time in Niigata-ken. A couple of months ago I spotted a Macross Gold Book for sale in a local chain used book shop. For those of you who are interested in the Macross God Book, it's still for sale at the Book Dome in Sanjo for 4,000 yen. Haha, just gotta get someone to go there! Edited March 30, 2006 by peter Quote
Rocket Punch Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Wow, those are some great pics! I'd be very interested in seeing this movie. I've always been in awe of the Yamato and Musashi. It's such a shame that aircraft carriers made batttleships obsolete. Boom. Quote
buddhafabio Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Wow, those are some great pics! I'd be very interested in seeing this movie. I've always been in awe of the Yamato and Musashi. It's such a shame that aircraft carriers made batttleships obsolete. Boom. 385547[/snapback] But you gotta admit they went out in a blaze of glory. and they got one good curtian call with the Mighty Missouri and the others that participated in desert storm Quote
Garou Kuroryuu Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Wow, those are some great pics! I'd be very interested in seeing this movie. I've always been in awe of the Yamato and Musashi. It's such a shame that aircraft carriers made batttleships obsolete. Boom. 385547[/snapback] Awesome pic! Is it any familiar ship the one being blown up sky-high in the pic? Or just an unlucky one being direct-hit? Don't recall seeing that particular pic before. Edited March 30, 2006 by Garou Kuroryuu Quote
Sdf-1 Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Thanks for great weathering reference pics. Very impressive stuff. I hate say though, I don't know in which film that was used. Edited March 30, 2006 by Sdf-1 Quote
honneamise Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks Peter for these great pics. I´m definitely looking forward to see the film (don´t know its proper japanese name but it is "The Men of Yamato") - all the (few) reviews praise it as a masterpiece, although it seems to focus on the lives of some of the very young sailors who served on the ship rather than just giant sea battles. It´s a pity they´re going to deconstruct the set - but there is a 1/10 scale full model of Yamato in a museum - that´s almost as great! And HLJ carry a CD with hundreds of images of this thing. Quote
Skull Leader Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 gotta see... gotta see... gotta see.... Quote
ComicKaze Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Why the heck would they deconstruct that? So, there's no conning tower up to the top? Just the deck and maybe 2 more above it? Quote
Memphis Egyptologist Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Awesome pic! Is it any familiar ship the one being blown up sky-high in the pic? Or just an unlucky one being direct-hit? Don't recall seeing that particular pic before. 385618[/snapback] That's the Yamato blowing up in that photo. As the ship sank, it rolled on its side and one of the forward magazines exploded, blowing the ship in two. Quote
Project Phoenix Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) It is my understanding that the movie set is not 1/1 scale. I read this from the official website couple of months ago. But the fact that they tried to build it as close as possible in size to the original Yamato makes this movie quite an expensive venture. Those pictures are really awesome by the way. Great job taking them! As for the title of the movie, it is "Otoko tachi no Yamato". EDIT: The movie is already out and for fans of Takashi Sorimachi, he is in the movie as well playing a cook. Edited March 30, 2006 by Project Phoenix Quote
Macross73 Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 (edited) Great Pics! "Otoko tachi no Yamato". When/was/is/ and where is this available for viewing? Edited March 30, 2006 by Macross73 Quote
peter Posted March 30, 2006 Author Posted March 30, 2006 I saw the movie in January. Here's a link to the movie website: http://www.yamato-movie.jp/ It wasn't bad....would have been nice to see more of the ship considering the money spent on building the mock up. This article says it's 1/1 scale, but it's not official: http://www.oshipee.com/omami/e-photo-yamat...et.htm#birdview The official website of the town it's in mentions nothing of the exact scale: http://www.city.onomichi.hiroshima.jp/yamato/yamato.html Quote
Project Phoenix Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 1/1 scale or not, I'm still impressed! Now to search for the torrent file... Quote
big F Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Wow nice pictures. gives you a real sence of scale. They certainly built it well. Its a real shame it will be dismantled. Much in the same way that Cammeron built the scale model /set of Titanic ( ducks as rotten eggs fly towards me ) it was also so built to nearly 1/1 scale and was also a very expensive set. I think it also got binned afterwards. I would love to see it when Im in Japan next month. Quote
reddsun1 Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks Peter for these great pics. I´m definitely looking forward to see the film (don´t know its proper japanese name but it is "The Men of Yamato") - all the (few) reviews praise it as a masterpiece, although it seems to focus on the lives of some of the very young sailors who served on the ship rather than just giant sea battles. It´s a pity they´re going to deconstruct the set - but there is a 1/10 scale full model of Yamato in a museum - that´s almost as great! And HLJ carry a CD with hundreds of images of this thing. 385621[/snapback] Even as I look at this pic, the theme from Star Blazers keeps playing in my head over and over... Simply awesome. Now if only this thing was R/C and seaworthy. Isn't there a community somewhere in Europe that has a "miniature" city with a harbor, complete with mock battles between big-scale R/C ships? Quote
KingNor Posted March 30, 2006 Posted March 30, 2006 the problem with sets is that they're not built to last, on the "camera side" they are very pretty and neat, but inside, where the guts are, they're a nightmare. loose nails, stuff held together with tape. sets are only built to last as long as they're needed, they tend to fall apart after a little while anyway. so don't get too hung up on it being dismantled, i think it's cool that it was built at all. Quote
Mercurial Morpheus Posted April 1, 2006 Posted April 1, 2006 Even as I look at this pic, the theme from Star Blazers keeps playing in my head over and over... Funny thing, the same thing happened to me. Awesome model. Thanks for the pics. Quote
Dante74 Posted April 1, 2006 Posted April 1, 2006 I saw the movie in January. Here's a link to the movie website:http://www.yamato-movie.jp/ 385666[/snapback] I found some Engrish on the site. When you click the link above and don't skip the intro it'll start "buffering" Quote
vanpang Posted April 4, 2006 Posted April 4, 2006 Hey guys I knew that the Yamato was sunk on its one-way mission to Okinawa but how was and where the Musashi sunk ? Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted April 4, 2006 Posted April 4, 2006 Hey guys I knew that the Yamato was sunk on its one-way mission to Okinawa but how was and where the Musashi sunk ? 387514[/snapback] Sunk on the way to the big fight at Leyte. Battle of the Sibuyan sea. The Yamato was there too, but turned back after the Musashi sank. I think Musashi holds the record for absorbing the maximum number of torpedoes and bombs before blowing up/sinking. Bismarck should hold the records for shells. Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted April 4, 2006 Posted April 4, 2006 Even as I look at this pic, the theme from Star Blazers keeps playing in my head over and over... Simply awesome. Now if only this thing was R/C and seaworthy. Isn't there a community somewhere in Europe that has a "miniature" city with a harbor, complete with mock battles between big-scale R/C ships? 385735[/snapback] Haha! Wouldn't it be hilarious to turn up there in a Godzilla suit? Quote
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