Movies in Japan

19 comments

1. The Amazon thing annoys me. You can’t turn them off and there’s no English subtitles for western movies, it makes no sense!

   As for the cinemas though, I get it, movies aren’t cheap to play on a big screen and there’s not a huge market for western indie films

2. Would vpn be an idea?

3. If Netflix made something, they own the rights and you can use whatever language you want. Support is very good for newer shows. If they don’t have the rights, you can trick it with VPN.

4. Gaijins comprise a minute portion of the Japanese population. Why would any business invest in the accessibility of Western indie films? It simply isn’t profitable.

   Don’t really get the premise of your complaint tbh. You wouldn’t see indie Japanese films being distributed in the the States or Europe for example.

5. VPN + YARRRRRRR

6. If you have a friend or family member back home with a Disney plus account (who’s willing to share), you can use their login over here to access Disney plus with out the need for vpn. Can choose what language subtitles you want too.

7. It sucks, but I can’t fault businesses in investing in what is profitable. Japanese people have as much interest in home grown movies, so the schedule is mostly full when you add those in.

8. It’s a generalised problem with content licensing; doesn’t only happen in Japan, and its not only cinemas. The biggest issue for me as non North American is that a good number of North American streaming services are not available outside unless you not only use a VPN, but also you have a North American credit card. This is the case for HBO, Warner, Hulu (Hulu Japan is not comparable at all to North America), the whole discovery network, and major networks such as CNN, NBC, CBS etc etc. Sure you can access some of it, but just to stick with the CNN example, CNN international which is much more relevant for not Americans than CNN US, is not available outside hotels. It’s pathetic, and the revenue/commercial aspect of it is incomprehensible to me.

9. Now, I love America and I am not one to gripe about it too often these days, especially as I have been here for over twenty years. But I do have one little complaint: accessibility of films.

   I know it’s probably difficult due to distribution rights, limited demand for certain content, and the hassle of translating all the dialogue or whatever, but I long to be able to go see all the latest Eastern releases in the cinema, not just Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Seven Samurai and a couple of others, often a few months after they’ve been released elsewhere, but a broad range of Asian-language minor horror movies, indy stuff and all the rest of it.

   Or, at least, it would awesome if Amazon Prime in America had a wider range of stuff to watch and you could actually turn the English subtitles off on the stuff they do have.

   Now, like I said, I love America and I’m very happy here. I have few complaints. I just want to be able to watch movies more easily. (Mild) rant over.

10. That was my gripe as well.
    Netflix and VPN?

11. It’s getting worse in recent years to be honest because the domestic market is relatively strong but also there is not much incentive to bring niche films over as they don’t generate as much profit. These days most young people watch YouTube or streaming influencers and will spend their money on a sappy love story with the same regurgitated plots. Only films that have major buzz and social media appeal will make it over these days sadly.

12. If you are ever in Yokohama, check out Jack and Betty; they only show Indie films:

    https://www.jackandbetty.net

13. The Amazon subs one is a massive pet peeve.

14. Had similar gripes recently and did a bit of digging. Turns out there are quite a few indie cinemas around Tokyo. They often show some kind of curated selections e.g. of a certain director; they don’t necessarily show the latest foreign indie films but sometimes do. Scratches the itch to see foreign films on a big screen for me.

    Check out for example:
    * [Waseda Shochiku](https://maps.google.com?q=Waseda%20Sh%C5%8Dchiku,%201%20Chome-5-16%20Takadanobaba,%20Shinjuku%20City,%20Tokyo%20169-0075&ftid=0x60188d3c44e28145:0x7d13a0b5b4274512&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)
    * [Uplink Kichijoji](https://maps.google.com?q=Uplink%20Kichij%C5%8Dji,%20%E3%83%91%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B3%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8B%202%E9%9A%8E%201%20Chome-5-1%20Kichijoji%20Honcho,%20Musashino,%20Tokyo%20180-8520&ftid=0x6018ef43a8cf6c79:0x3f8fa3bb09574e32&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)
    * [Stranger](https://maps.google.com?q=%E3%80%92130-0024%20Tokyo,%20Sumida%20City,%20Kikukawa,%203%20Chome%E2%88%927%E2%88%921%20Stranger%20%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB%E9%A4%A8%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC&ftid=0x6018892ecfe84201:0x712ff305e6e2d3d5&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)
    * [Shimotakaido Cinema](https://maps.google.com?q=Shimo-Takaido%20Cinema,%203%20Chome-27-26%20Matsubara,%20Setagaya%20City,%20Tokyo%20156-0043&ftid=0x6018f3af070c47bb:0xb940ca5acadedabb&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)
    * [Eurospace](https://maps.google.com?q=Euro%20Space,%203F%201-5%20Maruyamacho,%20Shibuya%20City,%20Tokyo%20150-0044&ftid=0x60188caa3a07e439:0x50ca8e23ca4275da&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)
    * [Yebisu Garden Cinema](https://maps.google.com?q=Yebisu%20Garden%20Cinema,%204%20Chome-20-2%20Ebisu,%20Shibuya%20City,%20Tokyo%20150-0013&ftid=0x60188b169d52e7e3:0x4b5dcac53abe656d&hl=en-JP&gl=jp&entry=gps&lucs=,47071704)

15. So I had someone working in film explain why that is to me. Basically movie releases in Japan are planned to prioritize the domestic cinema. The release schedule is programmed in such a way that it gives local releases a headstart, such that a Hollywood blockbuster will not get in the way of the newest Japanese movie. This is for japan a way of ensuring their movies get a chance locally, as otherwise promotion/production budgets are relatively smaller and they would get buried in the rest.

    Localization apparently isn’t really the challenge. In some cases productions will get famous stars to voice the japanese dubs – and then the release is guaranteed a better spot in the schedule as there is local involvement.

16. Your complaint is absolutely valid! I feel exactly the same way. If anything, it’s sad you have to pack it with so many disclaimers about how you really do love Japan despite this very real problem.

    I can understand for movie theaters. It’s a limited amount of physical space, so naturally what movies are going on what screens is decided by the theater’s business model. But for Hulu, Amazon, Netflix etc to offer different shows in different locations or worse, different language options for the same shows in different locations is really a legacy of an old-fashioned way of doing business.

    If I want to watch the original Willow movie, it doesn’t cost Amazon any more money to route those bits to Japan vs. Canada. And yet because distribution rights are carved up by country rather than platform, the content is effectively region-locked. And that region-locking doesn’t offer one bit of benefit to the customer, it’s purely so that businesses that were not involved in the creative side of the industry can scrape some money out of other people’s work.

17. Japan has a big domestic film market and limited number of cinemas. Also, many western films are not translated to Japanese, especially non-English ones. So there is less incentive to have them on the big screen here.

18. get a VPN and put your Pirate hat on 🥲

19. Amazon Prime is horrible when it comes to subtitle support. Absolutely awful.

    Netflix is much better with respect to options, but for the Japanese market you’ll still encounter films that have been subtitled in English but in Japan will only have Japanese subtitles. Parasite comes to mind on that score.