japanese
Special Invitation Films
  • Seasonal Work in Tokyo
  • Man with No Name
  • The Oppressed Students
  • Regarding the Lives of Others
  • Far from Afghanistan: The October Edition
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    YIDFF 2011 Opening Film
    Seasonal Work in Tokyo

    (Dekasegi Tokyo)
    JAPAN / 1965 / Japanese / B&W / Video / 26 min

    Director, Photography: Endo Muneo
    Editing: Yokoyama Takashi
    Sound: Shoji Hideki
    Production Company, Source: Yamagata Broadcasting Company

    Mr. Sugano, a farmer from Obanazawa, Yamagata Prefecture, goes to Tokyo for seasonal labor with three colleagues for the first time. It is the era of Japan’s high economic growth, and seasonal work is an important source of income for farming families in the northeast part of the country. The designated workplace is a bread factory for Yamazaki Baking Company. Mr. Sugano learns how to make bread from a manager younger than him. With warm humor, the film shows how the seasonal workers, at first bewildered by unaccustomed chores, later take things in stride. This outstanding TV documentary from the early history of broadcasting won the Journalistic Social Program Division’s Silver Prize at the 13th Japan Commercial Broadcast Awards.