This Japanese Pine tree in Port Moody is a legacy of Disney's "Shogun"

The permanent home of the Japanese White Pine tree from Shogun at Pioneer Memorial Park (City of Port Moody) and the tree being used on set during filming (Phil Pacaud/Creative BC).

Move aside, The Last Of Us.

The first episodes of FX’s Shogun series on Disney+ premiered this past Tuesday — and the reviews have been positive, if not almost universally glowing.

Based on the release of the first two episodes, the limited series has received a 100% fresh rating amongst 63 critic reviews to date and a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, several high-profile critics have already compared it to Game of Thrones. Shogun, based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, is now one of the most positively reviewed big-budget productions filmed in and around Metro Vancouver.

FX CEO John Landgraf previously told the Hollywood Reporter this is the cable network’s largest international-scale production to date, and it also boasts the network’s biggest budget yet. Following the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, FX is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.

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Shogun is set in feudal Japan in the year 1600, when a European ship finds itself marooned in a fishing village, with its English pilot holding secrets that could help a Japanese Lord tip the scales of power and defeat the trade stranglehold of Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants in East Asia.

According to Yahoo Canada, a sizeable crew from Japan was hired to work with the BC-based crews to create an authentic setting — everything from the Osaka harbour near the easternmost end of Burrard Inlet in Port Moody to building a castle with a stone wall and an entire village. Much of this was built on the 34-acre Flavelle sawmill waterfront site, which fully closed in 2020 ahead of its high-density, mixed-use redevelopment into the Flavelle Oceanfront District.

Creative BC notes that Japan was replicated in Port Moody through the import of items from Japan, including fabrics, swords, ropes, additional props, and even a Japanese White Pine tree.

Actor in a samurai costume in Shogun, filmed in Metro Vancouver. (Jose Alvarado/Disney)

This week, series co-star Cosmo Jarvis, who plays English pilot John Blackthorne, gave a big nod to the Canadian and Japanese crews that made Shogun possible.

“There was a huge component, which was the Japanese crew, and you had this intersection between them and our Canadian crew, and our Canadian crew exhibited a technical proficiency that I’ve never witnessed in my life,” Jarvis told Yahoo Canada.

“It was kind of amazing being surrounded by so many masters of their craft across so many different departments, and everybody worked tremendously hard to realize everything that the script required, whether it was a special effect or a prop, … or the building of a village, or a rig of a ship.”

Hiroyuki Sanada, a producer and a co-star who plays Lord Yoshi Toranaga, said Vancouver was the “perfect” place to film Shogun.

“I’d like to say thank you to Canada, especially Vancouver… it was a perfect place to make a samurai drama because they had a big, great, beautiful studio, and then 30 minutes drive from the studio they have everything, forest, river, beach, parks, mountains… it was amazing,” Sanada told Yahoo Canada.

“It was a dream East meets West company in Vancouver. And also, a lot of extras from Vancouver… they worked so hard. I’d love to say thank you to the Vancouver extras.”

Awe man they just filmed the remake of the Shogun series here in Port Moody pic.twitter.com/G094TyhBiD

— Dylan (@duffduck2) February 20, 2023

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Moreover, Shogun was filmed between late 2021 and mid-2022, when many of the pandemic restrictions and challenges were still in force. Due to the travel restrictions, the local crew also consulted with cultural advisors and experts in Japan.

When productions wrap up on-site filming, they usually do not leave behind any trace of their activity. That was not the case for Shogun; as an act of goodwill towards the production’s host community, the crew found a permanent home in Port Moody for the Japanese White Pine tree, according to Creative BC.

Working with the City of Port Moody, the crew arranged the donation and planting of the tree at a prominent and accessible location near the northwest corner of Ioco Road and Newport Drive, right next to the Ioco Road roadway. This site at Pioneer Memorial Park is just north of the fire hall and east of the public library.

The tree was planted at the park in late 2022. According to the municipal government, at the time of the planting, the tree already had a height of 30 ft, and its estimated weight, including the root ball, was about 14,000 pounds. Japanese White Pine trees — native to both Japan and Korea, and a popular bonsai plant in Asian gardens — can reach a height of up to 50 ft.

A behind-the-scenes photo of the production suggests this tree abutted a stone wall at the Flavelle set at least at one point during the production. It is stated that the tree was moved a total of three times, including the planting at its permanent home.

japanese white pine tree shogun flavelle port moody filming

Filming of Shogun at the former Flavelle sawmill site in Port Moody, with the temporary stone wall and Japanese White Pine tree used as the on-site set, in 2022. (Phil Pacaud/Creative BC)

japanese white pine tree shogun port moody flavelle

Permanent relocation of Shogun’s Japanese White Pine tree at Pioneer Memorial Park in late 2022. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

The Japanese White Pine tree from Shogun in the filming site at the former Flavelle sawmill site in Port Moody in 2022. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

japanese white pine tree shogun port moody pioneer memorial park

Permanent relocation of Shogun’s Japanese White Pine tree at Pioneer Memorial Park in late 2022. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

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Permanent relocation of Shogun’s Japanese White Pine tree at Pioneer Memorial Park in late 2022. (Creative BC)

shogun japanese white pine tree pioneer memorial park port moody

Location of the permanent home of the Japanese White Pine tree from Shogun at Pioneer Memorial Park in Port Moody. (Google Maps)

“This act of goodwill reminds us of the lasting impact that the film industry can have, not only in the realm of entertainment but also in nurturing relationships and promoting a sense of community and cultural appreciation long after the cameras stop rolling,” states Creative BC.

Variety notes that the owner of the former Flavelle sawmill site provided the production one year to use the lot, and they even assisted the crew by disassembling the on-site equipment and building jetties on the water that supported the early 17th-century buildings.

The site is owned by Surrey-based Aspen Planers Group of Companies, which has business operations in forestry, trucking, logistics, and real estate development. According to Aspen, high property taxes were one of the leading factors for the sawmill’s 2020 closure.

But there have also been delays to advancing Flavelle Oceanfront District. The company previously blamed the 2018 municipal election, the uncertainty of the controversial stances of the previous 2018-elected mayor, rising property taxes due to the highest and best-use rule, and the pandemic. For this reason, over the interim, they “developed partnerships in the film and entertainment sector” to ensure the site “remains a productive part of Port Moody’s business sector” after the sawmill’s closure.

The redevelopment’s official community plan (OCP) amendment was approved by the Port Moody City Council in 2018 before the municipal election. That same year, Metro Vancouver Regional District also subsequently approved the necessary reclassification of the development site from industrial use to general urban use. Aspen’s next steps are to submit the rezoning application, followed by the development applications, but they have yet to establish a timeline for their next actions.

flavelle oceanfront district sawmill port moody

Previous condition of the Flavelle sawmill site in Port Moody before its closure. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

Artistic rendering of the future Flavelle Oceanfront District redevelopment in Port Moody. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

Artistic rendering of the future Flavelle Oceanfront District redevelopment in Port Moody. (Flavelle Oceanfront District)

Since 2018, the City of Port Moody has approved various other similar neighbourhood-sized redevelopments, including Edgar Developments’ Portwood (previously known as Woodland Park) and Wesgroup Properties’ Inlet District. There is also a growing node of high-density, mixed-use, tower-based development proposals around SkyTrain Moody Centre Station.

If it is fully realized, as outlined in the OCP amendment, Flavelle Oceanfront District would have 3.6 million sq ft of total building floor area in up to a dozen towers reaching up to 38 storeys in height. There would be about 3,400 homes for as many as 7,000 residents, as well as a 106,000 sq ft “campus of care” facility, 99,000 sq ft of office space, 103,000 sq ft of creative industrial space, and 72,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant spaces, including a grocery store. More than half of the sawmill redevelopment site would be used for parks and open spaces. The southern edge of the property is approximately a 10-minute walk from the new Moody Centre Station, which is served by both SkyTrain and the West Coast Express.

Each of the remaining eight episodes of the 10-episode limited Shogun series will be released weekly through April 23, 2024, on Disney+.

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