Okinawa is known to many as a postcard perfect paradise. In 2019, before the pandemic stopped travel, the island welcomed 10 million tourists. But despite mass tourism, Okinawa is also the poorest prefecture in Japan.
Tag Archives: Japan
Inside Japan’s Dolphin Trade
In Taiji, Japan, the dolphin hunting industry has shifted from killing dolphins for their meat to a more lucrative, but equally controversial industry—the capture of live animals for overseas “dolphin shows.”
In this video, we travel to the town made infamous in the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” with Ren Yabuki, the director of Life Investigation Agency, a Japanese animal rights NGO and the only group tasked with monitoring this year’s dolphin hunts.
The Coming War on China
The Coming War on China, from award winning journalist John Pilger, reveals what the news doesn’t – that the world’s greatest military power, the United States, and the world’s second economic power, China, both nuclear-armed, may well be on the road to war.
Nuclear war is not only imaginable, but planned. The greatest build-up of NATO military forces since the Second World War is under way on the western borders of Russia. On the other side of the world, the rise of China is viewed in Washington as a threat to American dominance.
To counter this, President Obama announced a ‘pivot to Asia’, which meant that almost two-thirds of all US naval forces would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific, their weapons aimed at China. A policy which has been taken up by his successor Donald Trump, who during his election campaign said “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing”.
Filmed on five possible front-lines across Asia and the Pacific over two years, the story is told in chapters that connect a secret and ‘forgotten’ past to the rapacious actions of great power today and to a resistance, of which little is known in the West.
Princes of the Yen
Princes of the Yen reveals how post-war Japanese society was transformed to suit the agenda of powerful interest groups, and how citizens were kept entirely in the dark about this. History is now repeating itself around the world.
Based on a book by Professor Richard Werner, a visiting researcher at the Bank of Japan during the 90s crash, during which the stock market dropped by 80% and house prices by up to 84%. The film uncovers how the Bank of Japan pumped up and then crashed the Japanese economy, with an aim of inducing change. Today, what happened in Japan 25 years ago is repeating itself in Europe, with an aim of centralizing power in the Eurozone.
The film shows why it is important for central banks to be accountable and transparent. It also explains how International Financial Organizations such as the IMF seek to impose conditions on countries that are mainly of benefit to dominant Western interests. For anyone interested in understanding recent developments and the significance of the establishment of institutions such as the AIIB and the BRICS led New Development Bank, Princes of the Yen provides the background.
Princes of the Yen reveals with clarity the control levers that underpin the dominant ideology of the 21st Century. Piece by piece, reality is deconstructed to reveal the world as it is, not as those in power would like us to believe that it is.
“Because only power that is hidden is power that endures.”
Twilight of the Yakuza
The Yakuza, Japan’s organised crime syndicates, are a dying breed. Their members are aging and the government of Japan has launched a large-scale crackdown on them to eradicate them once and for all. But who are the Yakuza? The cancer of a nation or a necessary evil in a country with one of the lowest crime rates in the industrialised world?
Undoubtedly the Yakuza are involved in crimes including extortion, fraud, murder, drugs & gambling. However, Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the industrialised world, with crimes related to drugs -officially against the Yakuza code of honour- or street gangs strikingly low, a fact that many contribute to the presence of the Yakuza. Deeply rooted in Japanese society, they are seen as a necessary evil and ‘problem solvers’. They have been around since the 1700s and were said to protect the weak from the strong, following a rigorous code of honour. Several clans even contributed aid for the victims of the recent earthquake and Tsunami, all reasons why the public perception of the Yakuza in Japan is not solely a negative one.
Unlike the Mafia, the Yakuza is a legal, public group making them relatively easy to check on. Their offices are public, their members registered by the police and Yakuza members went as far as freely admitting their guilt in cases of crime investigations, as a part of their code of honour. In reaction to strict government measures against them, the Yakuza has ceased all cooperation with the law. As the police concentrate their resources on the Yakuza, many criminals simply don’t register with clans anymore and start operating underground, evading the grasp of police. A clear trend is emerging towards a new structure of organised crime in Japan, resulting in a steep decrease in the numbers of the traditional Yakuza while the underground is soaring – including foreign Russian and Chinese mafia’s.
This documentary deals with the struggle of the Yakuza for its survival and the restructuring of the organized crime scene in Japan. Furthermore, unprecedented access to the secret world of the Yakuza gives you an insight on who the Yakuza really are: criminals, outcasts, but also family men and a part of Japanese society.
Inside Japan’s Catholic Church Scandal
In Japan, Catholics make up less than 1% of the population. Despite the small numbers, allegations of sexual abuse have surfaced against Catholic clergymen in recent years.
Mrs Harumi Suzuki is one of the first few in Japan to speak out against the sexual abuse she experienced when consulting with a priest at the church back in 1977. In September 2020, she filed an official lawsuit against the Sendai’s Catholic Church, seeking around $77,000 in damages, along with an official apology. She speaks about her experience and the impact the incident has had on her mental health.
Japan’s Biggest Cult
From Margaret Thatcher seances to a political party promising to eliminate North Korea, Happy Science is a religious movement with over 12 million members in 90 countries.
Led by its charismatic leader, Ryuho Okawa, the group’s followers believe he is a divine being, but others have accused him of leading a cult.
The Boyfriend Experience: Paying for Love in Japan
For the first time in centuries, young women in Japan are turning away from marriage and relationships. With more Japanese women entering the workforce, earning wages, and enjoying increased economic freedom, gender norms in the country are shifting, giving rise to new economic realities.
In Tokyo, a new wave of services is targeting these women, serving up the “à la carte” boyfriend experience. Whether they’re craving a shoulder to cry on, a hunk to take shots with, or a late-night cuddle, Tokyo-based women can fulfill their relational needs on demand and by the hour.
Host Karley Sciortino travels to Tokyo to sample the services that are marketed to the country’s powerful single women and speaks with the men who make a living catering to that need.
The Grand Experiment
There is a grand experiment underway, the birth of a new financial market, one that promises to solve society’s most complex, intractable problems. An unorthodox marriage between capitalism and charity, The Grand Experiment tracks a social innovation that has won the backing of both conservative and liberal governments, support from renowned philanthropists like the Rockefeller Foundation, and buy-in from Wall Street’s biggest investment bank, Goldman Sachs.
Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are an investment product designed to raise private capital for social programs. Governments pay investors a return only if the programs decrease public expenditures by improving social outcomes, for example lowering the number of unemployed or prisoners. The profit paid by government to the investor is commensurate with the success of the social program.
From the halls of power to society’s struggling underclass, The Grand Experiment follows an unusual cast of characters forging previously unthinkable alliances: social workers and Wall Street bankers, the homeless and venture capitalists, conservative and liberal politicians. Over three years – in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom – this feature film tracks their efforts to use profit motivation to solve everything from crime to addiction to homelessness.
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Sir Ronald Cohen is the creator of social impact bonds, and leader of the international SIB revolution. As chair of the newly formed G8 Taskforce on Impact Investment, he’s been charged with igniting impact investing around the globe. Credited with creating the global venture capital market, Sir Cohen believes impact investing will be a democratizing force giving equal opportunity to all. By enticing investors with the lure of a double bottom line, he aims to bridge the gap between rich and poor.
At Melody Elementary School on Chicago’s west side, we’ll follow Kindergarten children through a school year in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. These students and their parents are part of a program designed to reduce the city’s special education costs. Goldman Sachs and local venture capitalists have invested $17 million in the Chicago bond. If the children test well, they’ll make a profit, which they hope will galvanize a global impact investment market.
For head teacher Michelle Stewin, the money is a chance to keep their program alive. Poverty, unemployment, and homelessness, have stacked the cards against her students. Will the teachers and children at Melody get the test scores they need to keep the money flowing?
In Canada, the Ontario government is looking to launch its first social impact bond. We have negotiated exclusive access to film the final selection process, as four short-listed non-profits work with finance consultants to hone their business case and pitch to investors. The finalists are attacking a wide range of confounding social problems: generational unemployment, habitual young offenders, and chronic homelessness.
In the UK, Sir Cohen’s creation is facing growing opposition. Some labour unions and non-profits are accusing the British Cabinet Office of pursuing a privatization agenda, and opening up government coffers to society’s wealthiest individuals. In the United States, academics have questioned the metrics used to pay Goldman Sachs a maximum return on the country’s first successful SIB.
Despite the concerns surrounding SIBs, they are the fastest growing social innovation in modern history. Currently there are 53 in more than a dozen countries, including: the UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Israel, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, India and Malaysia.
In Chicago and Ontario, and through the international efforts of Sir Cohen, The Grand Experiment will document one of the most important shifts of the 21st Century. At the heart of this film is one central question: is capitalism the answer to our social problems?
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Contact us to request full treatment, more screening material, information on broadcast partners, budget, finance plan or any other matters relating to potential partnerships.
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Director: Nadine Pequeneza
Producer: Nadine Pequeneza
Distributor: Sideways Film
Country of Production: Canada
Language: English
We are looking for: Co-Pro and Pre Sales
Stage of Project: Development
Delivery Date: Dec 2017
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Key Biographies
Director – Nadine Pequeneza
Nadine Pequeneza is an award-winning Producer, Director and Writer best known for her observational films offering unique access to character-driven stories about social justice. With over 15 years international experience, she has received multiple awards including; a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Documentary Program, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel, a Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival, a Golden Sheaf from the Yorkton Film Festival, and a Gold Panda from the Sichuan TV Festival. Nadine is a 7-time Canadian Screen Award nominee in both directing and writing categories. Her work has broadcast in more than 50 countries.
As the founder of HitPlay Productions, Nadine has produced and directed the company’s feature documentaries, including: Up In Arms, Inside Disaster, and Raising Cassidy. Her most recent documentary feature, 15 to Life: Kenneth’s Story, premiered in August 2014 on the award-winning PBS series POV. She is currently in production on a film about the legalization of physician assisted dying in Canada for CBC.
Editor – Ricardo Acosta
Ricardo immigrated to Canada from his native Cuba in 1993. He is a Sundance alumni and has edited award-winning documentaries for the past 20 years, including: Sembene! premiered at Sundance and screened at Cannes in 2015.
Marmato won Best Editor in a Documentary from the Canadian Cinema Editor Awards. Herman’s House premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and won an Emmy for best Political Arts documentary.
The Take directed by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, official selection at the Venice Film Festival and winner of the Canada Screen Award for Best Picture Editing.
Cinematographer – Stan Barua
Stan Barua’s work has attracted accolades and awards on five continents. Born in Poland where he earned his MA in Cinematography from the National Film School in Lodz, he also lived and worked in Kenya before moving to Canada in 1998.
Baba’s House Best Cinematography Award, Yorkton Short Film Festival; Eastman Kodak Cinematography Award, Houston International Film Festival; Best Canadian Short Drama Award, Atlantic Film Festival.
Rain Best Atlantic Canada Short Film Award, Atlantic Film Festival. Forgotten Places Best Cinematography Award, Warsaw Terra Film Festival.
Fukushima’s Nuclear Legacy
Ten years later, the scars of the earthquake and nuclear disaster are still visible in Fukushima, Japan.
Today, the population of Fukushima prefecture remains 180,000 less than before the triple disaster.