Hello, this is Izumitani from Ehime Film Commission.
Thank you to everyone who participated as extras in the recent film shoot in Ehime Prefecture.
For this production, we were unable to share the title, cast, or scene details during the recruitment process — and yet, we received over 100 applications. That kind of trust means a great deal to us.
By way of comparison: for the drama Rikon Shiyouyo (Let’s Divorce), which filmed at multiple locations across Ehime, over 1,000 extras participated in total — scenes at Oyamazumi Shrine, Gintengai Shopping Street, Bochan Square, and others. Because we were able to publicize the title and cast (Tori Matsuzaka and Riisa Naka), the open call generated 3,000 applications.
In the same period, filming was also underway for Nanji, Hoshi no Gotoku (You, Like a Star), and by all accounts, a significant number of extras took part in that production as well. Thank you to everyone involved.
From June through August, Ehime hosted a remarkable variety of productions — an international documentary, commercial shoots, variety program filming, and more. There were also scenario hunts and location scouts for future projects, several of which cleared all the logistical hurdles and moved forward into production.
What keeps coming back to me, as we work through these meetings and site checks, is something fundamental: filming can only happen because the community allows it. Every manager, landowner, caretaker, and local volunteer who opens their doors to a production crew makes the whole thing possible. Ehime FC is the public-facing contact — but the real welcomers are the people further along the chain.
Filming looks glamorous from the outside — on screen it always does. But for the people on the ground receiving a production crew, it’s a genuine effort. There’s scheduling flexibility to arrange, security systems to disable and re-enable, staff presence required throughout, last-minute requests to accommodate, long stretches of waiting, movement restrictions, overrunning shoot times, and clean-up afterward.
That people are willing to do all of this anyway — that’s what makes me think: it’s the rarity of the experience, the thrill of being part of something that will be on screen, the pull of that extraordinary ordinary moment, that captures people’s imagination in a way that logistics alone never could. There are still five months left in the year, but with so much having already been shot, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for releases and broadcasts. We can’t wait to share more.