SECTION INDEX: The Student Matrix • Rules of the Game • Endgame • Assorted Questions • Trivia • Locations • Maps

BATTLE ROYALE (2000)

SPOILER FAQ:
LOCATIONS: THE ISLAND

LOCATIONS

The novel and the movie place all the action on Okishima, a fictional island in the Seto Inland Sea, off the coast of the Japanese city of Takamatsu. The island is purely fictional, however (there is an island in Japan by that name, but it's not located near Takamatsu--in fact, it's an extremely tiny island within a mountain lake, so it's likely not supposed to be the BR island), and the movie was actually shot in locations all over Japan.

For the scenes which were ostensibly located on an island (the shot where Noriko collapses, the shots at the end where Noriko looks back on the island) the filmmakers used the island of Hachijo-Kojima (also known as Kohachijima), one of the Izu islands, 300 miles south of Tokyo.

The island has been uninhabited for over 30 years, since settlers who had tried to live on the island abandoned it because of lack of fresh water. When BR was shot there, the primary residents of the island were wild goats, descendants of animals brought to the island by the settlers. Last year, however, even the goats (who were ravaging the island's vegetation) were evacuated as part of a plan to turn Hachijo-Kojima into a bird sanctuary.

Hachijo-Kojima as seen from a neigboring island.
Isn't it beautiful? Even though it was where everyone died.

Most of the scenes for Battle Royale, however, were shot closer to Tokyo. Many were done on the soundstages of Toei Studios. Others were done in nearby locations:

The School - the old campus used as the school/BR headquarters in the movie. The early confrontations between Nanahara, Akamatsu, and Niida were also shot there.

Miura Peninsula - on the Western side of Tokyo Bay, Miura peninsula is the site of some rocky beaches and caves that are often used for filming locations. Noriko and Nanahara's scene in the cave, Kiriyama's massacre of Numai's gang on the rocks, and the exterior lighthouse scenes (shot at the Tsurugizaki lighthouse) were shot at Miura Peninsula.

Abandoned Resort - it seems an odd choice, but an abandoned hotel resort was the site used for Mimura's hideout, and a shot of Mitsuko leaving the bodies of two of her victims.

Mitsuko's Hideout - Adjacent to, if not part of, the aforementioned resort is the structure that was used as Mitsuko's lair for part of the movie.

Botanical Gardens - the sequence featuring Oki, Nanahara, Noriko, Motobuchi, and Kawada happens here, but Kusaka and Yumiko's scenes (which are supposed to be within eyeshot of this location) were actually shot elsewhere.

Chigusa's Shrine Page 1 • Page 2 - the abandoned shrine and its vicinity were the locations for Chigusa's sequence in the film.

Noriko's Shrine - Another dilapidated shrine was used as Kawada and Noriko's hideout on Day 2.

Tama River - Noriko's dream sequence with Kitano happens here.

The Clinic - The clinic itself is no longer there, but here's where the exteriors of that scene were shot.

Gymnasium - The basketball court used in the added basketball sequence of the Special Version.

Most of the pictures in the pages in this section were taken by an avid BR fan who took it upon himself/herself to track down the locations and post pictures of them on the net; sadly, his site is no longer up, but I had managed to download all the pictures on the site months earlier. Unfortunately, more specific notes on where exactly some of these locations are have been lost.