Adrift in Tokyo

Takemura has no friends and no family. He’s a student but he doesn’t have any particular ambitions. In other words, he isn’t going anywhere fast. Were all this not enough, the sorry sad sack has a debt of 800,000 yen. Fukuhara, a surly debt collector with a glorious mullet, is on his case. After roughing Takemura up, he gives him an ultimatum—72 hours to pay up, or else. Takemura barely has his wits about him again when he runs across Fukuhara a second time, and this time the thug has a different proposal—a walk. That’s right, in exchange for a million yen, Takemura must accompany Fukuhara on a walk across the city of Tokyo. Starting in a distant corner of the city, they begin their trek towards downtown, striking up a conversation. It’s at this point that Fukuhara admits that he’s recently killed his wife, and intends to turn himself in at Kasumagaseki police station—because, he says, it’s the finest in town. The pair’s itinerary, however, is hardly a quick and direct one. The disparate duo drift here and there, hanging out and coming across a host of eccentric personalities, creatures of the urban jungle’s various habitats. As their walking, talking and trading truths continues, the arrangement between Takemura and Fukuhara starts to transform into friendship. —Nicolas Archambault (Fantasia Festival)