One after the other, independent movie theaters are going out of business in Japan. In this post we will look at the situation in Tokyo,?which has the?largest number of theaters?in Japan?[ja].
In 2011, two theaters were closed in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. This year, on January 29,?Ebisu Garden Cinema?[ja] and on February?27,?Cinesaison Shibuya?[ja] were shut.?Ginza Theatres Cinema?[ja] will follow suit in May 2013.
In the Asakusa area, which is home to?Denkikan,?Japan's first dedicated movie theater, built in the early 1900s and a symbolic place for Japan's motion picture, the last three traditional cinema houses?Asakusa-Meigaza?[ja], Asakusa-Chuei Gekijo?[ja] and Asakusa-Shin Gekijo?[ja] were forced to shut down on October 21, 2012.
The?Chuei Corporation?[ja] which ran the three theaters?explained ?the deterioration of the buildings? had forced them to close.
Quite a few people were shocked by the news:
@e_dynamic
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@e_dynamic
darn?my days of youth?>>The theaters will disappear in Asakusa?5 Theaters including Cyuei Theaters are to be closed?due to deterioration of the buildings http://?
@o_nagayoshi
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@o_nagayoshi
The building, built in 1927, is older than Nihonbashi-Takashimaya which is designated as one of the important cultural properties. It?s regretable in that sense as well.
>>The theaters will disappear in Asakusa?5 Theaters including Cyuei Theaters are to be closed?due to deterioration of the buildings http://?
The downtown of Asakusa sixth street in Tokyo in 1937.
Many theaters stood side by side and attracting crowds of people.
Image originally appeared in ?Sekai Gaho? in December 1937 (Public Domain)
On April 24 2012, a Japanese film director Koji Wakamatsu, who passed away on Oct 17 this year, made a proposal on Twitter about the country's grant?system on arts and cluture, which has been retweeted 5,927 times as of November 27, 2012:
@wakamatsu_koji
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@wakamatsu_koji
Proposal by Director Wakamatsu :?The Agency for Cultural Affairs need not to provide grants for film making, which will only result in poor production. Instead they should support the suffering small theaters. It is meaningless to make films if there?s no theater to show them! Please amplify my message.
Meanwhile, @Dol_Paula tweeted in reply to this question on 2channel, a Japanese textboard, ?What makes you avoid going to theaters??
@Dol_Paula
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@Dol_Paula
Because the ticket is valid for only one show. It used to be okay to stay and watch the same show again with the same fee. Also, now DVDs are available in three months after the film comes off the theater, far shorter than six months. I was surprised to see a TV commercial announcing the release of the DVD version of Cars 2
@guitarkids2010 thinks that it is because films themselves have lost their appeal:
@guitarkids2010
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@guitarkids2010
I feel we are suffering a real loss [with theaters?disappearing]?, but I also feel there?s no great film that is worthy of being showcased in traditional cinema houses. It can be said that we are in a temporal trend ?where people are just going to dry, cinema complexes with enlarged versions of TV screens
? 3 theaters were closed? even in the birthplace of Japanese cinema, due to dilapidated buildings http://www.asahi.com/culture/update/1021/TKY201210210248.html ?
The entrance of Cinepathos Ginza (to be closed in May) is in an underground restaurant area
Image by Flickr user jun560 under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The tide of closing cinemas has changed the look of Tokyo's streets. People who used to get together and spend time there have lost their place.
@IMAO_S worries about elderly fans of traditional cinema houses.
@IMAO_S
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http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20120801-00000016-flix-movi ?
@IMAO_S
It's a sad thing?.where will those men who always hang out there, go?
Source: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/12/30/japans-independent-film-theaters-are-disappearing/
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