Multiple K-dramas have filmed in Singapore in recent years, and now a Japanese film has joined the lineup.
Magical Secret Tour starring Japanese actresses Kasumi Arimura, Haru Kuroki and Sara Minami premieres this month in Japan, and the movie is largely set in Singapore.
The story follows three women — Wakako (played by Kasumi, 33), Kiyoe (Haru, 36) and Mayu (Sara, 23) — who are recruited in a gold smuggling operation.
Driven by hardship, they form an unexpected bond as partners in crime.
While promoting the film to Japanese media last week, Kasumi shared a slip-up that happened while filming a scene in Singapore where she was required to run through the streets.
“I stepped on the hem of my trousers and fell,” she recalled, adding she didn’t manage to break her fall in time.
She joked: “It’s really dangerous to suddenly start sprinting at full speed after turning 30.”
Scenes filmed in tourist hotspots
The first trailer for the movie showcases different parts of Singapore.
The minute-long video starts with Wakako looking out the window of a moving car as it drives past Marina Bay Sands.
She stays at Lai Ming Hotel Cosmoland in Geylang and is later seen with Kiyoe and Mayu at Changi Airport and an eatery along Arab Street.
The trio also walk around Boat Quay — where Wakako is later seen eating at Sultan Palace Turkish & Lebanese Cuisine — and Little India, where they enter Ishtara Jewellery.
Colourful shophouses at Koon Seng Road and Tanjong Pagar, as well as Ellison Building along Selegie Road are also seen in the trailer.
In videos jointly posted on the film’s official Instagram and Visit Singapore’s Japanese page, other filming locations were revealed: Merlion Park, Helix Bridge, Zion Riverside Food Centre, Chinatown and Haji Lane.
Kasumi talked about the movie while sitting at Zion Riverside Food Centre, and in a separate clip posted today (June 8), Haru was asked about the most delicious food she had in Singapore.
“It’s all quite delicious,” she said before bringing up laksa.
“I tried it (laksa) at several places and they all tasted different. I wonder which one is the real laksa? I thought it was interesting,” she recalled, adding that bak kut teh was also tasty.
Magical Secret Tour premieres June 19 in Japan. It is unclear whether it will be screened in Singapore.
Earlier in April, South Korean actors Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong were spotted filming their upcoming K-drama Chilling Romance in Singapore.
They were seen at Lau Pa Sat and the Marina Bay waterfront.
K-drama Buy King, starring Ju Ji-hoon and 2PM’s Lee Junho and set to premiere in 2027, also had some scenes filmed here.
In 2022, actors Kim Go-eun and Wi Ha-jun filmed some scenes for their K-drama Little Women in Singapore. Locations included a seafront condominium, Robinson Road and Stamford Road.
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