Playing an extra in "The Vancouver Asahi" (2014)

I was working as a contract ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) during the early Spring of 2014, but due to a renewal in the temp agency's contract, there was a 3 month period where all of us were out of work. Since we were contractors, there was no salary for that period. So, I was desperately searching to find something to make ends meat until I could either renew the contract or find another job entirely. My university friend Takuya introduced me to an acquaintance of his that was working for a production company "Film Makers" in association with Fuji-TV. I was first under the impression the gig would be for a production assistant, but I then found out they were actually looking for foreign talent to play Canadian baseball players for a period drama called The Vancouver Asahi, which was loosely based off the real life story of the Japanese-Canadian baseball team in the 1930s. One way or another - I really needed money so I was glad to take any job. In addition, I was able to secure a spot for my friend Stephen, who was in the same job situation as myself.

We shot the film on weekends on the outdoor studio set in the Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture. The production team rented out a hotel for us and we shot from Friday to Sunday. Both our roles were as players on the main opposing team "Mt. Pleasant", but since I wasn't a professional in baseball, I was mostly used as a background outfielder. Our team captain and pitcher was Jeremiah, who played on the Yokosuka Naval Base baseball team. There, I also met several interesting people - Lee Shaw and Clive Davis - both of whom I worked on future projects with down the road. We had to start practice first thing in the morning, entering wardrobe by 4:30am and out on the field by 5:45am. Since it was still that strange seasonal period between winter and spring, the grass was actually spray painted green, and so we played baseball with our jackets until the shooting began. Once the sun reached the field, things would warm up quite quickly. Another problem they had was that they didn't have period appropriate shoes larger than 29cm, so I was 3cm too short. So, during all shots that I wasn't on camera I used my own shoes, and then quickly swapped them out and crunched my feet into the small shoes for the official shots. We would finish production quite early, and so there was time to explore the city. We even got to enjoy one morning off due to production schedule changes, so Steve and I took the opportunity to climb a nearby hill and visit a local shrine with a great view overlooking the city.

In addition to the baseball field scenes, there were two bar confrontation scenes shot late at night. Actually, I was supposed to be in the far back in these shots, but the catcher was very late for shooting, so I was swapped for his place. There may have been additional factors, as during the prior weekend, we all went out to watch Japan's academy awards, in which our film's director won an award for his previous film. Nobody thought the shooting would start early the next day, so we had a few drinks. I ended up coming back to the hotel at around 11pm only to find a sign posted, "Tomorrow's rehearsal begins at 4:30am." Although I got a meagre 5 hours of sleep after about 4 beers, the catcher stayed out all night and stumbled back inside just as we were all leaving. He ended up puking on set which I don't think the director appreciated. Anyways, because our roles were switched in that bar scene, to keep continuity I remained at the forefront in both night scenes. As we were the film's "villains", we were all directed to shout various racial insults to the character Ryo, played by Kamenashi. The line my character said was, "Look, the little Jap thinks hes a big boy." But when I watched the final cut of the film, the only thing that can be heard from me is "Big Boy", which we all thought was really funny. As the film was intended for Japanese audiences, there was a lack of directing with the English dialog. Lee, was played a rude umpire had a line "Do you want to get out?" And the way he was told to say it seemed so unnatural. After the night scene was done, we were dropped off by bus near Tokyo's Kabukicho (drinking district) at like 4am, all of us completely sober. We waited around for the first train while mixed in with all of the zombies coming out of the bars.

Another big shoot in the film was the big "baseball brawl" scene, in which everyone gets into a fight started by Kamenashi & Jeremiah's characters. There were several days of rehearsal between the two baseball teams, but then when the baseball audience in the bleachers were suddenly instructed to join in and try to break it up, some of the extras got a bit carried away. I think Stephen was punched or dragged off by some of the Japanese extras. It ended up looking more like a war movie scene rather than a local brawl, which is part why they cut the scene just as the extras in the bleachers started running towards the field.

I didn't have too much interaction with the celebrities, although I had a few brief conversations with the director. Out of the big name actors, Kamenashi seemed to be the most chatty with the foreign cast. I can recall a funny moment when he was walking towards the trailer, and some fan girls had spotted him at the edge of the film lot. Before the pop star could respond, an American extra started waving at them and looks over to Kamenashi, "Oh no, my fan girls found me".

Overall it was an interesting experience which earned me a few good friends and a lot of insight into the Japanese film production process. I tried to get a few other extra jobs, but the pay wasn't even worth the transportation cost and time. Most importantly, I made just enough extra money to survive until my work contract was renewed. Later that year, when the film was released I watched it at the cinema near Yokosuka naval base with the other members of the Mt. Pleasant team. There was one elderly lady in the audience who recognized Jeremiah.