Recently at a hobby shop, I noticed that Tamiya's 1/700 Yamato had new box art ( a very impressive front on shot of the ship that WASN'T a historical shot ) along with a logo that looked like a movie logo. also in the japanese text was 2005-12-17.
I thought it looked like a movie tie-in box art.

I also noticed that the 1/350 scale Yamato had the same box art.

Upon investigation it turns out that yes a feature film about the Yamato was made.

Its called
Yamato: The Last Battle.

They built a either 2/3 scale set of the ship measuring 190 meters long, or they built 190 meters of a full scale section of the ship.

Production quality looks very high and the film was made buy a japanese film maker who was very instrumental in finding the Yamato wreck.
(I happened to be lucky enough to see all the raw footage of that dive on the Yamato wreck-Since I wasn't allowed a copy of the footage, I made a bunch of drawings that night while it was still fresh im my mind. It was so sad to see such a sad end for such a beautiful and majestic ship).

If you had ever dreamed that you could have walked the deck of Yamato you can have the next best thing. That 190 meter set-built in Hiroshima province- is open to the public and will be allowed to stand until may.

It was so sad to see such a sad end for such a beautiful and majestic ship).

I can't disagree with the sentiment regarding the destruction of a fine work of the shipwright's art, but the alternative was ... unacceptable. ;)

I'd love to see the movie!

I can't disagree with the sentiment regarding the destruction of a fine work of the shipwright's art, but the alternative was ... unacceptable.

True.

There is a great book on the construction of Mushashi called oddley enough,
Battleship Mushashi.
It offers an amazing look into what it took to build these giants and the efforts to hide their construction.
One of the most amazing things to me, was that an entire ship was built, just to haul around those 18in. guns to the Mushashi construction site.

It was so sad to see such a sad end for such a beautiful and majestic ship).



I'm going to go one step further and disagree with John P. There was nothing sad at all about it. If pure evil ever walked the face of the Earth it was with the Axis and their instruments of conquest. Ultimately, the Yamato was no more majestic than a crematorium at Auschwitz.

Having said that, I'm a long time ship modeler and can appreciate the lines of a good design and the Yamato was one of the best (though my favorite remains another Axis battship: Richelieu...I made a 102" long model of that).

Any Japanese movie on this subject should be fascinating and, honestly, I have a sense of trepidation about it. The Japanese have recently adopted a rather strange view of their part in the war and I wonder how this will be interpreted.

Do the Japanese have an equivalent of James Cameron?

Towards the end of WW2, the USN was planning to build 4 new super battleships that were as big as the Yamato, the Montana class . The design of the Montana class was very simulair to the Iowa class. It was to be around 70,000 thousand tons with 12, 16 inch guns. The plans to build the Montana class was cancelled . Two Iowa class battleships the Kentucky, and the Illinois were cancelled in the middle of there construction. The USN decided it was best to concentrate on building new aircraft carriers.

The Kentucky's bow is on the Wisconsin, it was used as a huge patch panel after the Wisconsin was involved in a collision in the early 50s. Her engines were installed in the support ships Sacramento and Camden, both of which have been decomissioned.

Any Japanese movie on this subject should be fascinating and, honestly, I have a sense of trepidation about it. The Japanese have recently adopted a rather strange view of their part in the war and I wonder how this will be interpreted.
Ain't that the truth. They seem to be taking the art of "re-imagining" to a whole new level...
Say, did I hear correctly (some long time ago) that Japan and the then-USSR had never signed a peace treaty? And were still technically at war since the early-mid 1900's...?

Name any country nowadays that tells the truth and does no re-imagining.
Old Axis, new Axis, old Allies, new Allies they cherish their ummm bull.

Do the Japanese have an equivalent of James Cameron?

Yes, but sadly his movies always include a giant lizard/robot/alien that's about to destroy Tokyo.

José

There was one alternative to destroying the Yamato:

Capture!

We should have grabbed that girl, planted our flag on the stern,
re-christened her, and used her in battle for our side!





What would have been a good American name for that huge Battleship?

The Argo. ;)

José

The Argo. ;)

José

Bingo! :lol:

So does the movie go into the conversion of the Yamato wreck into a starship?

Ain't that the truth. They seem to be taking the art of "re-imagining" to a whole new level...
Say, did I hear correctly (some long time ago) that Japan and the then-USSR had never signed a peace treaty? And were still technically at war since the early-mid 1900's...?

They've never been good at admitting that they were wrong in WWII and the preceeding years. Self-denial and a rampant sense of superiority are, in my experience, hallmarks of the Japanese mindset - especially when it comes to WWII. One of the very few times I've come close to punching anyone in the face was with a group of loud, rude and obnoxious Japanese tourists on the Arizona memorial. It was extremely tempting to ask them which country had cities turned into radioactive wastelands... :mad:

The Soviets...all I know about the situation is that they declared war on Japan only a few days before we nuked the bejezus out of Hiroshima. They interred a number of Pacific-theatre Allied aircrews who were forced to make emergency landings in Soviet territory.

They interred a number of Pacific-theatre Allied aircrews who were forced to make emergency landings in Soviet territory.

Were the crews killed on impact? :confused:

I think the word you are searching for is "imprisoned".

BTW, I agree. Micronesia STILL won't allow the Japanese access to their dead in Truk lagoon. There are too many Micronesian victims still alive who remember what was done to them in WWII. As there are Chinese, Manchurians, Phillipino and American survivors.

Most of this stuff you won't see in today's revisionist "politically correct" history books.

Actually, I was thinking of "interned" - oops.

They've never been good at admitting that they were wrong in WWII and the preceeding years. Self-denial and a rampant sense of superiority are, in my experience, hallmarks of the Japanese mindset - especially when it comes to WWII.Yes, but the damn thing is, they make such bloody good cameras! One of the very few times I've come close to punching anyone in the face was with a group of loud, rude and obnoxious Japanese tourists on the Arizona memorial. :mad: Loud, rude and obnoxious Japanese tourists? Talk about your inverted stereotypes!
:D

I've rarely found any Japanese tourists who weren't loud, rude and obnoxious. They form these weird little herds...

Anyway, I was with my family that day on the Arizona memorial. We were darn close to throwing people into the water. Figured the Arizona's crew wouldn't have minded too much... :freak:

I've rarely found any Japanese tourists who weren't loud, rude and obnoxious.

I think a lot of places can say the same thing about American tourists.

There's a reason for the expression, "D----d Yankees!". :lol:

Ain't that the truth.

I think a lot of places can say the same thing about American tourists.That's what I meant about "inverted stereotypes." Actually I was referring to a 1970s National Lampoon article by that name, which consisted of mock diatribes about "those greasy Swedes," "those shiftless Germans, "those ugly Japanese" — well, you get the idea.

Regarding the Yamato, one can certainly appreciate the skill and craft of the engineer, artist, architect, or whoever, regardless of whether their work is used for good or evil purposes. Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl is widely regarded as a master cinema director, for example, even though she made Nazi propaganda. (And in her younger days as an actress, she was very pretty — I mean, for a Nazi!)
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/38/38_images/germanleni.jpg