Where was the movie the last samurai filmed?

Answer 1

Katsumoto's temple is Sho-sha-zan Engyo-ji Temple in Himeji City, about 30 miles west of Kobe. The temple is atop Mount Shosa.

The 'Imperial Palace' of the emperor Meiji in 'Tokyo' is the 400-year-old Chion-In Temple, Kyoto, where you can see the imposing flight of steps.

Much of the filming was in New Zealand, on the hillsides of the Uruti Valley, where the Japanese village was constructed, with Mount Taranaki standing in for 'Mount Fuji'.

The port where Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) arrives in 'Japan' is a set built at New Plymouth, and the parade ground, where the Japanese troops are trained, and where Algren invites a young recruit to shoot him, is the Pukekura Sports Ground, Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. The 'battle in the fog' was filmed in Mangamahoe Forest, outside the town.

The restaurant, in which Nathan Algren is introduced to the Japanese gentlemen is closer to Hollywood. It's the Moorish Room of the Castle Green, on South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena.

There was more filming on the Warner Bros backlot in Burbank. If you want to see how the sophistication of CGI is making location spotting difficult, look at the scene set in 'San Francisco' at the opening, when Algren walks past the cable cars. This was filmed on the 'New York Street' of the Warner Bros Burbank lot., with the view of the Bay added digitally.

Answer 2

They took the movie in New Zeland