Japanese cinema, shot here since 1926

Toei’s two working lots in Kyoto and Tokyo. Eighteen sound stages, the largest permanent backlot in Japan and the country’s only 270 degree LED volume

Start a production See the eighteen stages

Kyoto Riders at dusk

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    For over seventy five years Toei has stood at the front of Japanese cinema, from samurai epics to the anime the whole world grew up on. Two working studios carry that craft into every production that comes to Japan.

    Studios
    Kyoto and Tokyo
    Sound stages
    18
    Productions a year
    About 350
    Largest permanent backlot in Japan
    Kyoto, Uzumasa
    Centennial
    2026

    Toei Kyoto Studios

    Uzumasa, Kyoto, founded 1926

    Japan’s longest operating film studio and the home of jidaigeki, the period drama. Eleven sound stages, the country’s largest permanent outdoor backlot, and master artisans who have spent their lives on swords, wigs, armor and kimono.

    • Edo period streets, a castle town and a river set, standing and shootable
    • Stage 11: 1,062 m², the third largest in Japan
    • Japan’s largest dirt floor stage for water and terrain effects
    • The Toei elite stunt team, masters of samurai choreography
    • Two hundred experienced in house actors

    The Makanai for Netflix, Rurouni Kenshin, The Legend & Butterfly, Memoirs of a Geisha, Tora! Tora! Tora!

    Toei Tokyo Studios

    Oizumi, Tokyo, founded 1935

    One of the busiest studios in Japan, with around 350 credits a year. Seven sound stages, a 2,500 m² art department, in house post production, and the newest virtual production floor in the country.

    • Japan’s only 270 degree curved LED volume, Stage 11
    • Black Studio with a USC ICT Light Stage for digital humans
    • 48 camera Vicon optical motion capture, body and face at once
    • Editing suites, dubbing stages and a screening theatre on the lot
    • Casting and talent management under the same roof

    Battle Royale, The Bullet Train, The Blood of Wolves, The First Slam Dunk, Monster Hunter: Wilds

    Eighteen stages, drawn to scale

    Every stage on both lots as a volume you can read, with a 1.7 m figure for scale. Pick a lot, then a stage.

    Length
    29 m 95.1 ft
    Width
    17.5 m 57.4 ft
    To catwalk
    9 m assumed
    Floor
    507.5 m² 5,463 ft²

    Catwalk height is not published for the Kyoto stages

    Kyoto · Stage 2

    The craft on the lot

    From a sword forged by hand to a face captured at 48 angles. Every department is in house and a short walk from the stage.

    Master artisans

    Sword forging, armor, calligraphy and textile arts, carried by craftsmen who trained for a lifetime on the Kyoto lot.

    Kyoto

    Wigs and makeup

    Handcrafted wigs and period accurate styling, from a geisha’s hair to a samurai’s battle face.

    Kyoto

    Costume

    Thousands of samurai, ninja and geisha costumes, historically correct and fitted for modern shoots.

    Kyoto

    Elite stunt team

    Sword fighting, hand to hand combat and high action, choreographed by the team behind decades of jidaigeki.

    Kyoto

    Set design and construction

    Edo streets on the backlot or a custom interior built from scratch in a 2,500 m² workshop.

    Both lots

    Virtual production

    A 270 degree curved LED volume, permanent on the Tokyo lot and wired into the art and camera departments. Any Japanese landscape, any time of day.

    Tokyo

    Motion and facial capture

    48 camera Vicon optical capture with simultaneous face and body, plus a Light Stage for photoreal digital humans.

    Tokyo

    VFX and CG

    Unreal Engine pipelines, Toei’s own facial capture software and motion libraries, used on The First Slam Dunk and Monster Hunter: Wilds.

    Tokyo

    Post production

    Editing suites, dubbing stages and a screening theatre, so a production can finish on the lot it shot on.

    Tokyo

    A filmography written on these stages

    Twelve features made on the two lots, from the 1973 yakuza cycle that rewrote Japanese crime film to Muromachi Outsiders in 2025

    1. Battles Without Honor and Humanity1973Kinji FukasakuKyoto
    2. The Street Fighter1974Shigehiro OzawaKyoto
    3. The Bullet Train1975Junya SatoTokyo
    4. Shadow Warriors1980Eiichi KudoKyoto
    5. Yakuza’s Ladies1986Hideo GoshaKyoto
    6. Poppoya, Railroad Man1999Yasuo FuruhataTokyo
    7. Battle Royale2000Kinji FukasakuTokyo
    8. Hayabusa: The Long Voyage Home2012Tomoyuki TakimotoTokyo
    9. 125 Years Memory2015Mitsutoshi TanakaKyoto
    10. The Blood of Wolves2018Kazuya ShiraishiTokyo
    11. The Legend & Butterfly2023Keishi OtomoKyoto
    12. Muromachi Outsiders2025Yu IrieKyoto

    With the world’s studios and streamers

    The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, Hirokazu Kore-eda for Netflix. My Undead Yokai Girlfriend for Amazon. Rurouni Kenshin. Memoirs of a Geisha. Tora! Tora! Tora! The Ramen Girl. Rain Fall. Map of the Sounds of Tokyo.

    How Toei films filled theaters

    Ten films, the numbers behind them, and what the lots had to do with it

    All ten stories
    1. 1973 仁義なき戦い In writing No. 5 Kinema Junpo all time list, 2009 Battles Without Honor and Humanity
    2. 1974 激突！殺人拳 In writing $1.5 million US and Canada rentals The Street Fighter
    3. 1975 新幹線大爆破 In writing 440,638 French admissions, 1976 The Bullet Train
    4. 1999 鉄道員 In writing ¥2.05 billion Japan distribution rentals, 1999 Poppoya, Railroad Man
    5. 2000 バトル・ロワイアル In writing ¥3.11 billion Japan box office Battle Royale
    6. 2018 孤狼の血 In writing 4 top prizes 42nd Japan Academy Film Prize The Blood of Wolves
    7. 2022 ドラゴンボール超 In writing $21.1 million No. 1 US weekend, August 2022 Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
    8. 2022 ONE PIECE FILM RED ¥20.33 billion Japan box office One Piece Film Red
    9. 2022 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK In writing ¥15.87 billion Japan box office, to January 2024 The First Slam Dunk
    10. 2023 レジェンド＆バタフライ In writing Top 3 Japan weekend, January 27 to 29, 2023 The Legend & Butterfly

    A hundred years in Uzumasa

    The Kyoto lot opened in 1926 as Bantsuma Productions, the studio of the actor Bando Tsumasaburo. It joined Toei Company in 1951 and has not stopped shooting since. In 2026 the studio turns one hundred and Toei turns seventy five, with an expansion of the lot already planned.

    Bring the production to Japan

    Stunning locations, real funding, and one partner for the paperwork.

    JLOX+, the location incentive

    The Japanese Government’s location subsidy programme covers a portion of production costs for large scale international films, series and streaming projects shot in Japan. Toei helps you qualify and apply.

    Toei incentives

    On a case by case basis Toei invests beyond production services: as financial backing, as production service partner, or as the distributor in the Japanese market.

    Everything around the shoot

    Visas for foreign crew, production offices on the lot, accommodation from luxury hotels to ryokan, and transport for crew and equipment. Kyoto is 1.5 hours from Kansai airport and 2.5 hours from Tokyo by bullet train.

    Tell us about the film

    Toei Company, Ltd. International Division, Production and Strategy. We reply from Tokyo within two working days.

    [email protected]