The Shadows of the Rising Sun is a Finnish-Japanese crime drama filmed in the wintry scenery of Tampere as well as amidst the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. In the series, detectives played by Jasper Pääkkönen and Anna Watanabe cross paths in a thrilling serial killer hunt. The series will be broadcast in Finland on Ruutu and in Japan on the Wowow channel next year. In addition to Watanabe and Pääkkönen, the series stars Elias Salonen, Mikko Nousiainen, Antti Reini and Alina Tomnikov.
The City of Tampere and Business Finland have funded the series through a production incentive.
- The film productions support Tampere's vitality and regional economy, and are an important part of the life economy's strategic priorities. The Finnish-Japanese production is a unique opening for Tampere towards Japan. We have systematically developed and cooperated with Film Tampere to establish Tampere's position in the international audiovisual market. This greatly contributes to Tampere’s international visibility," says Anna-Kaisa Heinämäki , Competitiveness Director of the City of Tampere.
According to Film Tampere's survey, the productions employed on average around forty Tampere residents per production. This figure only reflects the number of people directly employed in the sector per production, plus the employment effects of the accommodation, transport, catering and marketing sectors.
Watanabe talks about her time in Tampere on his YouTube channel, which has 1.5 million followers.
- Imagine that Helsinki is Finland's Tokyo, and that Tampere is like Finland's Osaka or Fukuoka. Tampere is the second largest city in Finland. Tampere is famous for two things: being home to the world's only Moomin museum and being the sauna capital, Watanabe describes in the video.
Watanabe says on her channel that her family also came along for the filming. Her children went to school in Tampere during the filming.
- Like Japan, Finland is a very safe country and children can walk to school by themselves, Watanabe explains on YouTube. She also mentions clean drinking water and tidy streets.
-The comfort of the actors is recognised as both part of the success of the production and an opportunity for positive country and city branding. This production is a great example of the success of these aspects, says Film Tampere Programme Director Fanny Heinonen.
