Movie buff who reopened rural Japanese town’s cinema celebrates 2 years of success against the odds

Although cinemas are increasingly becoming things of the past in rural areas across Japan, there are still those who have a strong passion for providing entertainment on the big screen for local film-goers. Such is the case with Hiroaki Wada, 34, a movie buff who moved from Tokyo to Masuda in the western Japan prefecture of Shimane, where he was able to resurrect a small cinema two years ago in a quiet town that had been without one for 14 years. Despite a harsh business climate, Wada’s desire to support the cultural hub of the town of 43,500 has only deepened. “It will make me happy if people get to view all sorts of movies here,” says Wada, who by opening his new establishment has brought the number of cinemas to three in the whole of Shimane – among the fewest of Japan’s 47 prefectures. According to the Japan Community Cinema Centre, the number of cinemas in the country dropped from 887 in 2002 to 590 in 2022. Only about 20 per cent of the country’s cities, towns and villages have cinemas, and most are found in large urban areas. Nearly half of the total is concentrated in the three largest metropolitan areas centring on Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Your Lovely Smile: amusing journey through Japan’s indie cinemas On the whole, Japan’s film and cinema industries are on an uptick, having almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels thanks to the popularity of hit animation movies like The First Slam Dunk and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan has said the country’s box-office revenue in 2023 rose 3.9 per cent from the previous year to 221.4 billion yen (US$1.5 billion), while the number of cinema-goers climbed 2.3 per cent to 155.5 million. The total number of cinema screens nationwide increased by 19 to 3,653 after new multiplexes opened in populous areas such as Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo in Hokkaido, contributing to the strong results. With the spread of Netflix and other services, fewer people are coming to theatres to watch movies. Other than that, I think the cost of maintaining the facilities is also a factor Hiroaki Wada on the closure of regional cinemas In recent years, smaller cities serving as regional hubs have begun installing their own multiplexes, with many being set up in large-scale commercial complexes. But the opening of a new cinema like the one Wada operates is a rare sight these days. Screening mainly Japanese films, his 200-seat capacity mini-theatre Shimane Cinema Onozawa has a hall with a historical air, and is of great value to the local community given that so many parts of the country are going without such facilities. Wada attributes the downfall of regional cinemas in recent decades mainly to Netflix and other streaming services capturing a younger demographic of entertainment seekers. “With the spread of Netflix and other services, fewer people are coming to theatres to watch movies. Other than that, I think the cost of maintaining the facilities is also a factor,” he says. Shimane prefecture is long and narrow, stretching 230 kilometres from east to west along the Sea of Japan. In 2008, Digital Theater Masuda Chuo, the last remaining cinema in Masuda, closed down, leaving the western part of the prefecture without any at all. Anyone from the area wishing to go to the movies had to take the time to travel to neighbouring Hiroshima, to the southwest, or other prefectures by car or train. Wada, from Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, learned of the cinema’s closure in Shimane in 2018. At the time, he was managing Cinema Chupki Tabata, a mini-cinema in Tokyo. Chupki is known as Japan’s first “universally accessible cinema”, with audio guidance and subtitles for those with visual or hearing impairments. Seira Kanda, 36, a grandson of the founder of Digital Theater Masuda Chuo, coincidentally attended Chupki’s workshop on creating audio guide scripts, where he became acquainted with Wada’s wife, Sarasa, 40, a native of Masuda. They got talking after Kanda explained that he wanted to “bring back movie culture” to Masuda while reminiscing about the films he used to go to see as a child at the Masuda Chuo cinema with his family, such as Princess Mononoke and Titanic. After leaving his job with Chupki in 2020 and with Sarasa having become pregnant, Wada and his wife decided to move to Masuda. Through establishing a joint venture company and crowdfunding, Wada was able to restore the cinema there. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shimane Cinema ONOZAWA (@shimanecinemaonozawa) Wada recalls that at first, he thought the movie house could survive on low-budget films, B-movies and documentaries. But under current business conditions, he says, “We have to rely on major productions to survive”. He makes ends meet by doing audio guide work in his spare time. Whenever he watches a film, he is drawn in by the lives of the people portrayed on screen. Watching films in a cinema, Wada says, allows him to grasp the various subtleties. “Films are part of the town’s culture and I want to keep protecting this,” Wada says.