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A far cry from the images of Japan portrayed in the world's media, Sean McCallister 's thought-provoking documentary, Japan: A Story Of Love And Hate shows that the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. Sean was granted unique access to both live with and film the daily lives of couple Naoki and Yoshi and through this story of love and survival he reveals a hidden underclass called the 'New Poor', in the world's second richest economy. Naoki, 56, had it all in Japan's bubble economy days, he ran a business with 70 staff, drove a brand new BMW and lived in a six-bedroom house. But when Japan's economy crashed in the early 1990s he lost everything, ending up divorced and penniless. He was saved from homelessness by his new girlfriend, 29-year-old Yoshie, who took him in despite living in a tiny one-room apartment. At his age, the only job Naoki can find is part-time at the post office, which means working seven hours a day and earning just 4,000 pounds a year. Yoshie now has to find extra jobs to support him, working 15 hours a day in three jobs. Each evening she leaves Naoki at home to do the housework and heads to a sleazy chat bar, where she is paid to drink, flatter and flirt with married men. Naoki sees his relationship with Yoshie like father and daughter and admits that since losing his business he has lost his confidence in both his professional and social life.

Primary Title
  • Japan: A Story of Love & Hate
Date Broadcast
  • Saturday 31 July 2010
Release Year
  • 2008
Start Time
  • 14 : 10
Finish Time
  • 15 : 00
Duration
  • 50:00
Channel
  • BBC World News
Broadcaster
  • British Broadcasting Corporation
Programme Description
  • A far cry from the images of Japan portrayed in the world's media, Sean McCallister 's thought-provoking documentary, Japan: A Story Of Love And Hate shows that the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. Sean was granted unique access to both live with and film the daily lives of couple Naoki and Yoshi and through this story of love and survival he reveals a hidden underclass called the 'New Poor', in the world's second richest economy. Naoki, 56, had it all in Japan's bubble economy days, he ran a business with 70 staff, drove a brand new BMW and lived in a six-bedroom house. But when Japan's economy crashed in the early 1990s he lost everything, ending up divorced and penniless. He was saved from homelessness by his new girlfriend, 29-year-old Yoshie, who took him in despite living in a tiny one-room apartment. At his age, the only job Naoki can find is part-time at the post office, which means working seven hours a day and earning just 4,000 pounds a year. Yoshie now has to find extra jobs to support him, working 15 hours a day in three jobs. Each evening she leaves Naoki at home to do the housework and heads to a sleazy chat bar, where she is paid to drink, flatter and flirt with married men. Naoki sees his relationship with Yoshie like father and daughter and admits that since losing his business he has lost his confidence in both his professional and social life.
Classification
  • Unknown
Owning Collection
  • Television Vault
Broadcast Platform
  • Television
Languages
  • English
  • Japanese
Captioning Languages
  • English
Captions
Live Broadcast
  • No
Rights Statement
  • Made for the University of Auckland's educational use as permitted by the Screenrights Licensing Agreement.
Subjects
  • Documentary films
Genres
  • Documentary
Contributors
  • Sean McAllister (Director)
  • Sean McAllister (Producer)
  • Johnny Burke (Producer)
  • Tenfoot Films (Production Unit)
  • BBC (Production Unit)
  • NHK (Production Unit)
Subjects
  • Documentary films