Movies are an unreliable yardstick for gauging the most pressing social issues of the day. But based on what¡¯s been playing in Japanese theaters over the past year, you might conclude that Tokyo¡¯s Kabukicho neighborhood is one of them.
Despite repeated efforts to clean it up, the former red-light district near Shinjuku Station is still synonymous with vice (and ¡°Tokyo Vice¡±). It recently provided the setting for a string of films delving into the dark side of Japanese society: Daigo Matsui¡¯s ¡°Meets the World,¡± Koto Nagata¡¯s ¡°Baka¡¯s Identity¡± (both 2025) and Ren Akiba¡¯s ¡°Tokyo Strayers,¡± released last month.
Makoto Nagahisa¡¯s ¡°Burn,¡± the story of an abused teen runaway who gets sucked into a life of prostitution, is the latest and most harrowing of the bunch. It¡¯s also the most eye-popping ¡ª though that shouldn¡¯t come as a surprise to anyone who saw the former ad-man¡¯s hyper-stylized debut feature, ¡°We Are Little Zombies¡± (2019), or his acclaimed 2017 short, ¡°.¡±
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.