VIVANT: From Mongolia to Tokyo

Nogi, the Marubishi trader at the centre of the story, takes a call from his CIA friend Sam on this square in episode 1. On screen the country is the fictional Republic of Balka in central Asia; the cameras were in Mongolia, and this is the capital's main square, with a monumental equestrian statue of Sükhbaatar at its centre. It looks the same today, minus the film crew.

Visitor guidance: A public square in central Ulaanbaatar.

In episode 2 Jamin, the Balkan girl who later saves Nogi, is treated in a cave in the Bayanzag area. In the Gobi Desert, Bayanzag is better known as the Flaming Cliffs, red sandstone that glows at sunset and the place where the first dinosaur eggs were ever found. The production used its rock walls for the cave scene.

Location precision: The drama does not name the cave; the pin marks the Bayanzag area.

Visitor guidance: A remote Gobi site; go with a local driver or a tour from Ulaanbaatar.

When the story returns to Tokyo, Nogi is seen praying at a shrine, filmed at Kanda Myojin in Chiyoda. The shrine dates back about 1,270 years and stands near Akihabara, so it sells talismans to protect electronic devices. A location guide notes it is among the easy places on this route to visit, unlike the offices and research centres used elsewhere.

Visitor guidance: A working shrine in Chiyoda, close to Akihabara.

Nogi and Kurosu take Yamamoto to an unusual footbridge in this episode, filmed at the Shiosai Bridge in Kakegawa, Shizuoka. It is 232 m long and 3 m wide and carries only cyclists and pedestrians. The location guide calls its suspended-deck design the only one and the largest of its kind in Japan.

Visitor guidance: Open to walkers and cyclists.

Episode 9 tells the past of Nogi's father, Suguru, and was shot in Shimane, his home prefecture. His wedding to Akemi was filmed at the Kaguraden hall of Izumo Grand Shrine, one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. A location guide describes the god enshrined here as Japan's foremost matchmaker, which suits a wedding scene.

Visitor guidance: Open to visitors; Shimane is far west of Tokyo.

Most of the finale was shot in Tokyo. The scenes set inside the Metropolitan Police Department were filmed in an underground passage of this Shinjuku tower, which houses rented offices, gardens, event halls and apartments.

Also in the finale, the room where the Uehara family takes shelter was filmed in the Main Presidential Suite of the Hotel New Otani in Chiyoda. Opened in 1964, the hotel has 1,479 rooms and a 400-year-old garden.

Visitor guidance: The hotel and its garden are in Kioicho, Chiyoda.