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| Where Was ‘Soul Mate’ Filmed? Inside the Berlin, Seoul and Tokyo Locations Behind Netflix’s 2026 Japanese BL Series. (Credits: Netflix) |
‘Soul Mate’ did not waste time pretending to be a small romance drama. Netflix’s 2026 Japanese BL series arrived with icy emotional damage, international heartbreak, gorgeous cinematography and enough long-distance yearning to emotionally exhaust viewers across three continents.
Starring Hayato Isomura and Ok Taec-yeon, the series follows Ryu Narutaki and Johan Hwang across ten years of love, trauma and painfully beautiful timing in Berlin, Seoul and Tokyo. Naturally, audiences immediately stopped asking “Will they end up together?” and started asking “Where exactly was that scene filmed because I need to emotionally suffer there too?”
Like many major Netflix productions, not every filming location was publicly revealed while shooting was taking place. Several details were intentionally hidden during production to avoid crowds gathering around active sets or fans interrupting scenes halfway through filming.
Considering the emotional intensity of this drama, the cast probably did not need someone in the background screaming “Taec-yeon saranghae!” during a crying scene in winter weather.
Still, enough filming locations have now surfaced to prove that Soul Mate quietly turned some of the most visually striking places in Germany, Japan and South Korea into full-blown pilgrimage sites for BL fans.
The emotional centre of the overseas filming schedule was clearly Berlin, where a large portion of the production spent around four and a half months filming.
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| Netflix |
The German capital became the backdrop for some of the series’ most intimate and emotionally devastating scenes. Every trailer frame looked like a luxury perfume advert directed by someone going through a breakup.
One of the most recognisable spots featured in the series is Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom). Johan, played by Ok Taec-yeon, appears standing near the cathedral in training gear during one of the trailer’s most talked-about scenes.
Filming took place around Friedrichs Bridge, with the cathedral’s enormous green dome dominating the skyline behind him.
The historic church, known for its Renaissance-style architecture and dramatic interior design, added an almost haunting atmosphere to Johan’s lonelier moments. Fans online immediately joked that Netflix somehow managed to make emotional trauma look extremely expensive.
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| Netflix |
The production also filmed along Regensburger Strasse in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. Ryu and Johan are seen running through the elegant street lined with pale European buildings and quiet residential facades.
The location perfectly matches the drama’s reflective tone, balancing beauty with emotional distance. Viewers described the street scenes as “romantic enough to ruin your standards permanently”.
That sequence continues into Viktoria-Luise-Platz, the historic Berlin square with its central fountain and tree-lined pathways.
The location appears during one of the duo’s calmer moments together, giving audiences temporary emotional peace before the series inevitably destroys it again ten minutes later. The production clearly understood that emotional damage becomes more cinematic if fountains are involved.
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| Netflix |
Several railway scenes were also filmed using stations connected to Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway network. The red regional trains and platforms featured in the drama became symbolic transition points throughout Ryu and Johan’s relationship.
Fans especially loved the quiet station scenes because they carried the kind of emotional tension only BL dramas can create from two men standing silently while winter air and unresolved feelings do all the work.
Another Berlin location appearing throughout the series is Alexanderplatz, which provided urban city backdrops during Johan’s solo scenes and transitional sequences.
The area’s mix of modern architecture, public transport chaos and neon lights helped underline the loneliness of living abroad. Because apparently no contemporary romance is complete until somebody stares sadly across a European city at 2am.
The production also used sections of Museum Island, adding a more artistic atmosphere to several introspective moments involving Ryu’s life abroad.
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| Netflix |
The historical surroundings contrasted beautifully with the characters’ modern emotional struggles, making Berlin feel less like a filming location and more like a third main character with unresolved emotional issues.
In South Korea, much of the filming reportedly centred around Seoul’s riverside districts and boxing gyms, reflecting Johan’s life and career.
Scenes around the Han River Parks captured quieter emotional conversations between the characters, while urban neighbourhoods in Mapo and Yongsan were used for Johan’s daily life sequences. Seoul in the series feels busy, lonely and strangely comforting at the same time, which is honestly the city’s brand at this point.
Several dramatic training sequences were filmed inside professional boxing facilities in Seoul, with Ok Taec-yeon undergoing months of boxing preparation and weight loss during production. Fans praised the realism of the sports scenes, while others admitted they were too distracted by the emotional eye contact to fully process the actual boxing.
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| Netflix |
The Japanese filming schedule was equally extensive. One of the major confirmed locations is Yokohama Bank Ice Arena in Kanagawa, where Ryu’s ice hockey scenes were shot. The arena became central to Ryu’s identity as an athlete before his life changed completely.
The cold lighting, echoing rink sounds and lonely training sessions gave the series some of its most visually powerful moments. Audiences online said the hockey scenes looked less like sports drama and more like “existential crisis on ice”.
The production also filmed around Yokohama’s Minato Mirai district, using its waterfront skyline and modern architecture for reflective scenes involving Ryu’s future and personal uncertainty. The city’s calm harbour atmosphere worked perfectly against the emotional instability happening inside the characters’ heads.
Across Tokyo, filming stretched through Komae, Machida, Setagaya, Hachioji, Chofu and Shinjuku. These areas provided everyday residential streets, university settings, clinics, train stations and ordinary city life moments.
The drama spends years following the characters’ evolving relationship, so the production intentionally grounded parts of the story in realistic urban settings instead of constantly chasing postcard-style visuals.
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| Netflix |
Several university and daily-life scenes were filmed around Waseda district, giving the story a more youthful atmosphere during flashbacks involving Ryu and his early adulthood.
Meanwhile, quieter suburban roads in Setagaya captured some of the series’ softer emotional moments. Fans online were quick to point out that Japanese dramas somehow always make convenience-store walks look emotionally life-changing.
In Odawara, the production filmed scenes connected to care facilities and later stages of Ryu’s adult life. The slower atmosphere of the city reflected the series’ themes of healing, ageing and emotional endurance over time. Some viewers described these scenes as painfully realistic compared to the more romanticised Berlin sequences.
The series also travelled to Ushiku in Ibaraki Prefecture, where large-scale hospital scenes were reportedly filmed.
Extras were recruited for medical staff, patients and visitors, suggesting emotionally significant scenes tied to recovery and personal crisis. Fans already suspect these episodes will emotionally destroy the audience, because hospital corridors in Asian dramas rarely lead to peaceful outcomes.
Meanwhile, filming in Nasu District, Tochigi introduced more natural landscapes into the series. Train scenes, rural roads and open countryside visuals appear throughout later episodes, giving the drama a quieter and more reflective tone.
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| Netflix |
The scenery contrasts sharply with Tokyo’s density and Berlin’s urban melancholy, symbolising how much the characters themselves have changed over the years.
Another striking Japanese location included Yamashita Park in Yokohama, where several evening conversation scenes were filmed against the harbour lights.
The production also used sections of Shibuya for busy city sequences showing the emotional isolation that can exist even inside crowded urban spaces. Because apparently standing silently in the middle of Tokyo traffic is now considered peak romance storytelling.
Online reactions to the filming locations have been intense even before the full series release. Fans across Japan, Korea and international BL communities have already started compiling unofficial “Soul Mate location tours” on social media.
Berlin scenes especially attracted huge attention, with viewers praising the production for avoiding overly touristy visuals and instead choosing locations that felt emotionally raw and lived-in.
Some netizens joked that the series looks “financially devastating”, while others praised Netflix for giving the production cinematic scale rarely seen in Japanese BL dramas. A surprising number of viewers also admitted the locations themselves became part of the emotional storytelling. By the time the trailers ended, audiences were already attached to train stations, bridges and empty streets as if they were supporting cast members.
What makes Soul Mate stand out is how naturally the three cities reflect different stages of the characters’ lives. Berlin feels cold and searching. Seoul feels restless and bruised. Tokyo feels familiar but emotionally unfinished. The locations are not simply there to look pretty for the camera. They actively shape the atmosphere of the relationship itself.
And honestly, that may be why audiences are already obsessed with these filming spots before the series has even fully settled into streaming charts. Whether it is the icy silence of Yokohama’s skating arena, Berlin’s melancholic streets or Seoul’s late-night riverside atmosphere, every location in Soul Mate seems designed to leave viewers emotionally unwell in the most cinematic way possible.
So if you had the chance to visit one filming location from the series, where would you go first — Berlin’s cathedral streets, Tokyo’s quiet corners or Seoul’s emotional night scenery? Fans are already debating it everywhere online.