Society Movie about passed-out salarymen gaining international recognition

[thomas]

Costa Rican photographer Allegra Pacheco was dumbstruck when she first caught sight of drunken suited salarymen passed out on trains and streets following a night of heavy drinking with co-workers. Like many foreign visitors, she expected a more conservative aspect to the well-oiled loyal corporate culture for which Japan is famous.

Pacheco recalled being stunned at coming across such scenes in Tokyo's Shibuya, Shinbashi and Ikebukuro entertainment districts and the fact that passers-by paid them no heed. Determined to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon, she consulted a Japanese friend who told her that sleeping outdoors "is a typical style for salarymen." Inspired by the imagery that seemed so out of place with Japan's reputation for notoriously long work hours and group mentality so as not to stand out, Pacheco, 36, created a documentary film on the theme simply titled "Salaryman."

Pacheco spent five years interviewing salarymen and decided to make a film, keen not to depict Japan as an inscrutable society from the standpoint of an outsider. The hundred people she interviewed included a sociologist, an economist and a labour union worker. She also met with a former co-worker and the mother of Matsuri Takahashi, a rookie employee at advertising giant Dentsu Inc. who committed suicide in 2015 at age 24, unable to cope with the gruelling work hours expected of her.

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The world of drunken ‘salarymen’ enters the picture | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

SALARYMAN - allegrapacheco

www.allegrapacheco.com

 

[nice gaijin]

this looks good, I'll give it a look