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| Filmmaker Kiminari Suzuki attends a preview of his film, "NEET Senkyo," in Niigata's Chuo Ward. (Yuri Yamamoto) |
NIIGATA--A semi-autobiographical film about a young penniless man with few friends who gets elected to a local city council has created a buzz on the Internet and has popped up in small movie houses around Japan.
"NEET Senkyo" is the project of scriptwriter and director Kiminari Suzuki, 40, who lives in Niigata's Higashi Ward.
The 2-hour-and-25-minute film incorporates some of Suzuki's real-life experiences. Suzuki says he hopes that "NEET Senkyo" will help drive home the important role that young people can play in politics and that they can be an effective agent for change.
The film derives its title from the acronym NEET, which is a young person who is "Not in Education, Employment or Training."
Suzuki had studied computer science at a university, but failed to find employment. He soon isolated himself in his parents' home in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture. Before he knew it, five years had passed.
On his few excursions outside the family home, he noticed that many stores in the local shopping district had shuttered their doors.
"Things can't continue on like this," he recalls thinking at the time. "I have to make a change."
So in 2007, Suzuki ran for the city council.
The new candidate had no name recognition and little money. He made his campaign sash by hand and toured the city on a bicycle to appeal to voters. He only had 30,000 yen ($250) to pay his election expenses.
But the underdog Suzuki garnered 1,004 votes, enough to win the 26th of the 28 available city council seats. He says that during his time in office, he dealt with issues affecting the daily lives of the public. When his term ended, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a prefectural assembly seat in 2011.
After experiencing the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, Suzuki traveled the world until he took refuge in Niigata in 2013.
It was then, after much contemplation, that he decided to make a film based on his own experiences in an effort to get out the youth vote.
"I felt a sense of crisis because the youth voter turnout rate hadn't gone up, and the political conversation was not getting deeper at all," he says.
To make "NEET Senkyo," Suzuki enlisted help from his amateur theater troupe, the Shimohonmachi shopping arcade in Niigata's Chuo Ward and friends from the Internet. Suzuki completed filming in 10 days. Production wrapped up at the end of January.
"The city will definitely become a better place if young people get involved in politics," said Takashi Hoshino, chairman of the shopping arcade that cooperated with the filming.
The protagonist of "NEET Senkyo" is a 30-year-old man who lands a job at a major company after graduating from college. But his long-held dream is to become an actor, so he quits his company to pursue a stage career.
Unable to land any roles, he spends his days as a NEET. His family, friends and society look down on him. He then meets fellow NEETs, and decides to run for the city council to rescue them from their plight.
After Suzuki released "NEET Senkyo" for free on a Internet video site on Feb. 10--which he declared "NEET Day"--more than 34,000 people viewed the film.
"NEET Senkyo" has since been screened in the Furumachi neighborhood in Niigata's Chuo Ward, in the city of Shibata, and other cities around Japan including Osaka.
According to the filmmaker, his experience on the city council showed him that the majority rules in any legislature. Many lawmakers, he says, are elderly and rarely come up with novel ideas through discussion.
"I hope that people who see the movie will realize that anyone--even NEETs--can take part in politics," Suzuki says.
By YURI YAMAMOTO/ Staff Writer
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