Maps of Movies

Departures (2008)

Where Departures says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A Tokyo cellist goes home to Yamagata, and the film is shot in Sakata, Kaminoyama and Tsuruoka, with Tokyo played by a house in Kawasaki

Scenes and places

The last concert of the orchestra (2008)

Daigo finishes a concert for a thin audience and learns the orchestra's owner is shutting it down. The cello he is still paying off suddenly feels like a burden.

Set in Tokyo orchestra concert hall — The hall where Daigo's orchestra gives its final, sparsely attended concert.

A civic concert hall in Sakata, Yamagata, used as the Tokyo stage.

Filmed at Sakata Civic Hall "Kibo Hall", Sakata (Honmachi, Sakata, Japan) — Ja-Wikipedia says the hall was used to film the orchestra's concert scenes. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The Tokyo apartment (2008)

Daigo tells Mika he owes a huge sum for his cello. Rather than fight about it, the couple agree to move to his late mother's house in Yamagata.

Set in Daigo and Mika's Tokyo apartment — The couple's Tokyo apartment, where Daigo admits the size of the cello debt.

Set in Tokyo, filmed in a house studio in Kawasaki.

Setting the octopus free (2008)

The couple's gift octopus turns out to be alive, and they carry it to the water. Releasing it gives them a light moment before Daigo's life changes.

Set in The sea in Tokyo — The shore where the couple let a live octopus go.

A man-made beach park on Tokyo Bay.

Filmed at Odaiba Marine Park, Tokyo (Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan) — Ja-Wikipedia lists Odaiba Marine Park as the sea where the octopus is thrown; the floating octopus is a prop. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The coffee shop at the front of the house (2008)

Daigo and Mika settle into the house his mother left him, which is fronted by the coffee shop his father once ran. The place holds the memory of a father who walked out.

Set in Daigo's childhood home and cafe in Yamagata — The old coffee shop and house Daigo's mother left him.

A former beauty salon in Kaminoyama, picked from about a hundred candidates for its aged feel and view of the river and mountains.

The job interview at NK Agent (2008)

Daigo calls about a job "assisting departures", expecting a travel agency. He learns it is about encoffining the dead, and the boss hires him anyway.

Set in NK Agent office — The company office where Daigo misreads an ad about "departures" and is hired on the spot.

A 1922 Western-style building that was once a restaurant.

Filmed at Former Kappo Obata (Hiyoriyama Obatarou), Sakata (Hiyoriyama, Sakata, Japan) — English Wikipedia says the NK office was shot in a three-storey Western-style building in Sakata built in 1922, originally the restaurant Kappo Obata. Coordinates come from a tourism-board page. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Playing the corpse for the training video (2008)

Daigo is told to be the model in a casketing training video and is made up as a corpse. The shoot goes wrong and his face is cut, an awkward start in a strange job.

Set in Theater where the training DVD is shot — A theater where Daigo plays the model for a casketing training DVD.

Yamagata's first cinema, closed since 2002.

Filmed at Sakata Minato-za, Sakata (Hiyoriyama, Sakata, Japan) — Wikipedia names this theater, closed since 2002, as the place where the training DVD scene was shot. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The public bath of his childhood (2008)

After his first body, Daigo scrubs himself in the bath he knew as a boy. The owner is his old friend's mother, who knows more about his childhood than he expects.

Set in Tsurunoyu public bath — The neighbourhood bath Daigo used as a child, run by his friend's mother.

A wood-fired bath that closed in 2009 and now stands in a film village.

Filmed at Tsurunoyu, Tsuruoka (Honmachi, Tsuruoka, Japan) — Ja-Wikipedia says the film shot at the Tsurunoyu bath in April and May 2007; it closed in 2009 and was moved to Shonai Film Village in 2010. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Mika goes home (2008)

Mika finds the training DVD and cannot accept Daigo's work. She leaves him and goes back to her parents.

Set in Station in Shonai — A rural station where Mika goes back to her family.

A small rural railway station in Yamagata.

Filmed at Amarume Station, Shonai (Amarume, Shonai, Japan) — Ja-Wikipedia says the scene where Mika returns to her home town was shot at Amarume Station. Only one source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The furnace and its keeper (2008)

At Mrs Yamashita's funeral, her son watches through a peephole. The furnace operator tells him how he thinks of death as a gate.

Set in Crematorium — The crematorium where Mrs Yamashita's family watch the burning.

A municipal funeral hall in Sakata designed by the architect Soichi Yagisawa.

Characters

• Daigo Kobayashi — A cellist who loses his orchestra and takes a job preparing the dead for burial.
• Mika Kobayashi — Daigo's wife, a web designer who follows him to his hometown.