Gennai Hiraga (1728-1780). Edo-era inventor that dabbled in static electricity, physics and medicine. The Gakken Static Electricity Generator is based on his design.

Hisashige Tanaka (1799-1881). Late-Edo, Meiji-era inventor, and co-founder of what would later become Toshiba Corporation. The Gakken Tea Carrying Windup Doll is based on his design. While I don’t have an inventor for the device used for the Gakken Dual Pendulum Clock, Hisashige did also work with time pieces, and had invented the Myriad Year Clock.

With its emphasis on discipline and self-reliant effort, Zen was temperamentally suited to warriors, who on the battlefield required skill and courage. The ultimate goal of Zen is, of course, spiritual awakening and the attainment of Buddhahood, but the concentration and equanimity fostered by the practice of meditation and the directness of mind and expression called for in koan encounters were of great practical use to even the most unenlightened samurai.

The ‘Imperial Palace’ of the emperor Meiji in ‘Tokyo’: 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 the dissipated 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’ filmed in Mangamahoe Forest, outside the town.

Katsumoto’s temple: the restaurant: the Moorish Room, Castle Green, South Raymond Avenue, Pasadena : The restaurant, in which Nathan Algren is introduced to the Japanese gentlemen is closer to Hollywood

Katsumoto’s temple: Sho-sha-zan Engyo-ji Temple in Himeji City, Japan : Edward Zwick’s account of the passing of the Bushido code with the Western opening-up of Japan is predictable, but he brings the emotional epic sweep of his previous Glory to this blending of Kagemusha and The Wild Bunch.

Pukekura Park is used as Imperial Army Parade area and Palace.

Lake Mangamahoe is where the horse and battle scenese were filmed at. A lake surrounded by dense forest, with several walk options to lookouts out over the city.

Port Taranaki is a Japanese fishing village where it was built just to be burnt down as a part of the movie.

Uruti Valley , the Japanese Village . Much of the filming centered on the hillsides of the Uruti Valley, which was remodelled slightly to imitate Japanese rural life in the 1860s. Mount Taranaki , New Zealand’s most-climbed mountain, turned on a stunning performance as Mount Fujiyama.