JFF+ INDEPENDENT CINEMA, a special streaming program organized by the Japan Foundation, is shining the spotlight on independent theaters, so-called “mini-theaters” that have nurtured the diversity of Japanese cinema culture. The free program aimed at overseas audiences is streaming Japanese films selected by managers of mini-theaters.

CINEMA5, a movie theater in Oita City, Oita Prefecture, selected the two films,"Leaving on the 15th Spring" (2013) by Director Yasuhiro Yoshida and"A Little Girl’s Dream" (2014) by Director Yoshiaki Tokita. These are stories about people striving to live on a remote Okinawan island and a mountain village in Niigata, far away from major cities.

We visited CINEMA5 where the manager, Hajime Tai works and heard about the history of the movie theater and stories about Japanese film today.

Text: Rie Tsukinaga Photo: Masahiro Nishimura Editing: The Japan Foundation

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Oita Prefecture in the eastern part of the Kyushu region is known for notable hot springs such as Beppu and Yufuin. In 1989, the first mini-theater in Oita, CINEMA5 opened in a commercial area in the heart of Oita City where the prefectural government is located. Hajime Tai was involved in screening films with friends back then and breathed new life into this long-standing movie theater as a new mini-theater. In 2011, a different movie theater within two minutes walking distance closed down, and he took that over and opened a sister theater, CINEMA5 bis.

In the golden age of movie theaters, there were over 20 in Oita City, and there were still more than ten in business even in 1989. As the times changed many closed, but CINEMA5 has continued to screen films as the community’s mini-theater for over 30 years.

Tai： The first movie theater at this location was opened around 1967. The entertainment company that was running it at the time had a chain of five movie theaters called Roxy in Oita City. I believe the names changed with the times, but there were four large movie theaters such as Grand Roxy and Toho Roxy. The fifth was a small movie theater that was like an afterthought. That was this movie theater. But, about 1988 when the previous CINEMA5 was going to be shuttered, I asked to be given the movie theater if it was going to be closed down. That was the start to the CINEMA5 that exists today.

Tai was in his early 30s then. What kind of background did he have before taking over operation of the movie theater?

Tai： I was born in Gifu City, then moved to the hot springs town of Beppu at age three and grew up there. I moved to Oita City when I was around 20. In my youth, I was an ordinary movie fan and screened 16mm films myself. In 1976, the Yufuhin Cinema Festival began and I participated as a committee member.

The late 1980s when I started running CINEMA5 was an era when various films that we hadn’t been able to see in Japan before were being released in mini-theaters in Tokyo. These included films by Wim Wenders and Daniel Schmidt. However, since those films weren’t being released in regional cities, regional movie fans like myself and others managed to watch them by borrowing 35mm films ourselves and using theaters after business hours to hold screenings. Around the time I was thinking about whether I could hold those screenings on a more continuous basis, there was talk about CINEMA5 closing.

Most were of the opinion that it would be realistically difficult to make a new mini-theater work. Back then, it was said that operating a mini-theater was only successful in large cities with at least a population of a million. Opening a mini-theater in Oita City with a population of around 400,000 was tantamount to suicide. When I first took over management, I myself thought that it would only last about three years and, in that case, I wanted to accomplish something that would remain in people’s memories for ten years. But, once I started somehow everything got on track and before I knew it more than 30 years had passed. On the other hand, the other four Roxy movie theaters all closed down in a span of about two years after this theater opened.

On January 7, 1989, the new CINEMA5 opened with a screening of "Wings of Desire" (1987) by Director Wim Wenders that was a smash hit in Tokyo mini-theaters. However, that became an unexpectedly historic day.

Tai： January 7, 1989. On the very day that this movie theater opened, we were notified that Emperor Showa had passed away. So, as the person in charge of the movie theater, my first job was to put up a notice about the emperor’s death in the movie theater’s entrance. The entertainment association had decided everything in advance about how the movie theaters would respond when he passed away, so I also put on a mourning band that had been prepared and greeted customers on that first day in a solemn atmosphere. I also wasn’t allowed to play music between screenings since it would’ve been tactless. Worse still, the film being screened was "Wings of Desire". It was such a gloomy beginning.

Incidentally, our sister movie theater, CINEMA5 bis opened on March 12, 2011. That was the day after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The day before, I learned about the disaster on the news while in the middle of getting ready for the opening. I gradually became aware that something terrible had happened. The next day, the fact that so many had died was reported, but we could only glumly continue with our work opening the theater.

Tai has interacted with fellow film fans across Japan since he was young through his own efforts screening films, and took up the position of representative director of the Japan Community Cinema Center in 2013. He is also an individual who has seen all the changes that have taken place not just in mini-theaters, but also in Japan’s movie theaters from the late 1980s until today.

Tai： When I look back now, I feel that the mini-theater boom that began from the late 1980s centering in Tokyo was a product of a certain kind of economic bubble. After "Wings of Desire" was released in 1988 at Chanter Cine in Tokyo (name changed to TOHO Cinemas Chanter in 2009), it became a long-running movie playing over 30 weeks. Nationwide, around 200,000 people probably saw it. "The Sacrifice" (1986) by Andrei Tarkovsky was released at Yurakucho Subaruza (closed in 2019) in 1987, and I’ve heard that around 50,000 people saw it in Tokyo alone. I think 70% of the audiences for both films were simply fighting to stay awake, but back then that was acceptable. Boring films were just fine and using money on something unproductive was actually thought to be sophisticated. That mood existed together with mini-theaters. Everyone was satisfied to sit through almost four-hour films of the kind you just endure, like Director Jacques Rivette’s "The Beautiful Troublemaker "(1991).

Meanwhile, Warner Mycal Cinemas Ebina, which was the first to be called a multiplex cinema in Japan was built in 1993, and in no time at all the number of cinema complexes began growing all over the country. Then, tremendous hit films were created one after another at cinema complexes with multiple screens, including Hollywood movies such as "Speed" (1994), "Independence Day" (1996), "Titanic" (1997), and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone" (2001), as well as Japanese films like Hayao Miyazaki’s "Princess Mononoke" (1997).

Along with that, long-established movie theaters went under in succession, and the atmosphere of mini-theaters also began changing little by little around 1997 when "Titanic" became such a huge hit and "Trainspotting" (1996) caused a stir.

The reasons for the shift in the environment surrounding mini-theaters was not solely due to the rise of cinema complexes. Tai notes that as the 21st century began, what audiences wanted out of films underwent a slow change.

Tai： In the early 2000s, it was the huge popularity of Korean films that actually saved the floundering mini-theaters. In those days, Korean films were almost never shown in cinema complexes, so the fact that films like "Shiri" (1999) became hits ended up saving us in the mini-theater business.

In addition, around then what people wanted from films also changed. I think the final day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament, May 27, 2001, became a big catalyst of that change. The grand champion, Takanohana who was injured competed against Musashimaru for the championship and succeeded in winning. When he accepted the prize, the then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, “It was moving!” From that moment, it was as if a dam had burst and everyone started wanting to be “moved.” In truth, from that day on we’d often get phone calls asking whether a particular film was moving or if we were showing any moving films.

People no longer had to strain themselves and pretend to understand difficult films. They began believing it was okay to be more openly moved. At the same time, cost performance was on the top of everyone’s mind in Japan because of the economic policies the Koizumi administration was pushing. We became a society that was unsatisfied unless we got something more for our money. Bit by bit, the approach of paying to watch a film you didn’t really understand, which had previously fed the mini-theater boom, began being sidelined.

People started wanting clear-cut services even at movie theaters. The movie theater services I think about include, for example, diligently distributing flyers for the films currently being streamed. Flyers are sales promotions that serve as advertisements before screenings take place, so usually once films are being shown the flyers are withdrawn. But, we still continue putting out flyers even when films are already being screened. I hope that moviegoers who watched a film will pick up the flyer about that film on their way home and ponder it. If that means that pamphlets no longer sell, that’s fine. That’s the kind of service I like to give, but nowadays when people think of service they only think about money and how cheaply they can see a film. That’s really sad.

In the old days…One of my shortcomings is always talking about the past. I’ve done moderately well for a long time, so it can’t be helped. Whenever I consider the future, I always end up thinking, “In the past, it was like this…” Ultimately, I only want to talk about one thing. “Why is the present not the past?”

As he smiles wryly, Tai talks about the “power” of movie theaters he feels is necessary now precisely because times have changed.

Tai： Everyone loves the phrase, “it was moving,” but what I think is “moving” is, in short, watching a film and thinking, “I was born to experience this film.” Of course, such a silly thing wouldn’t happen. Even so, I think there’s something in films that makes me illogically believe that’s true. Films must have a little bit of power that makes people who are struggling to live unexpectedly think, “I want to live another day.” I’ve come to feel that way, especially since the March 11th disaster.

Films aren’t meant to be helpful in any way. It’s not that we watch films to fulfill some goal, or that a visible change occurs because we watched a film. But, stated a different way, I think it can also be said that at the end of every action is a film. We drive a car to go to see a film. And we eat meals so that we can sufficiently watch films. That is, we don’t watch films for some purpose, but we’re living our lives every day to watch films. Moreover, I believe that is exactly what people call culture. Take eating. Normally, it’s an act essential for humans to gain nutrients, but it developed to become a kind of culture as soon as we began being exacting about unnecessary things that by nature serve no purpose, like admiring the containers we put our meals in and being particular about secret ingredients.

It’s the same for films. They’re not immediately helpful to our lives, but that’s exactly why they have continued to exist for so long as culture. It’s something we’ve always known, isn’t it? What is the most unhelpful thing? It’s ourselves. However, these totally purposeless films exist in the world, and if they’re sought after by so many people, then maybe it’s okay that I also exist in this world. Don’t you think so?

In an era when business has become more and more difficult for every movie theater in recent years, what significance do mini-theaters have?

Tai： There probably aren’t people who want to watch films on a small screen, but what I find wonderful about being a small theater is being able to see the face of each audience member. The success of films is always gauged in numbers, such as how many tens of thousands watched a film in a day, but if you could focus on each moviegoer, you’d find they each harbor different emotions. The ability to be aware of each and every moviegoer’s face is the significance of the mini-theater, isn’t it?

In a world when everything is uncertain, people with no connection at all happen to share time together, and go home each having felt something different from the film. I think the unnecessary existence of that kind of movie theater in a community is surprisingly beneficial. It doesn’t matter how audiences view films. Because films don’t belong to the filmmakers, they belong to the people who watch them.

Sometimes, directors come to our movie theaters to give a talk, but that’s not so they can tell us about the reasons for making the film or provide answers. It’s because I want to show the directors the faces of the people who paid money to come watch their films. That means that audiences don’t at all need to listen to the director’s talk and wonder whether their feelings about the film were correct. The people who watch films come up with their own thoughts and each creates films within themselves. That’s just fine.

CINEMA5 has a long history. What are some of the hits it has had so far?

Tai： The biggest hit was "Seven Years in Tibet" (1997), but personally "The Milkwoman" (2004) by Director Akira Ogata left the strongest impression on me. We had the same audience turnover for this film just in our movie theaters as those in Tokyo. I don’t know why this film became such a hit at our theaters. It’s not that we were creative with advertising. But, when I saw this film in the preview room I really liked it. From that point on, for nearly six months I kept talking about it every day to people. I only have one thing to say about it. “This film is amaaaaazing.” That doesn’t tell you anything about the story. But, people seeing me unable to communicate it well actually impacts them. That’s probably stronger than any superb advertising pitch.

I also love the film I selected, "A Little Girl’s Dream". So many people came to see this film that in the end, our box office revenue for it accounted for about a tenth of the nationwide revenue. It’s truly incredible and wonderful that a child who came from an elementary school that was on the verge of being closed studied so hard and actually became a veterinarian. "Leaving on the 15th Spring" is a story filmed on a very small island called Minami Daito Island. It’s fiction, but it’s probably a story that shares something in common with "A Little Girl’s Dream".

Finally, when asked about what makes Oita City so special, Tai gave an answer you would expect from him.

Tai： If you go to Beppu right next door there are numerous hot springs. The climate is warm and there haven’t been many typhoons recently, so I think it’s a pleasant place. But, what makes this community so great is not up to me to say. Just like a movie theater, I think it’s best if the people who come visit enjoy it as they like, don’t you think?

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JFF+ INDEPENDENT CINEMA

https://jff.jpf.go.jp/watch/independent-cinema/
Organizer: The Japan Foundation (JF)
In cooperation with: Japan Community Cinema Center
Period: December 15, 2022–June 15, 2023 (6 months)
Streaming areas: Worldwide, excluding Japan (some films not streamed in certain areas)
Fee: Free (user registration is required to watch)
Languages: English, Spanish (some films have Japanese subtitles)

Films recommended by CINEMA5 (Oita City, Oita Prefecture)
Leaving on the 15th Spring directed by Yasuhiro Yoshida (2013 [Streaming: December 15, 2022–March 15, 2023]
A Little Girl’s Dream directed by Yoshiaki Tokita (2014) [Streaming: March 15–June 15, 2023]