TV director Takemitsu Sato felt an inner voice calling him, “Why don’t you come?" when he heard that the people of his hometown of Futaba had evacuated to the Saitama Super Arena last March.
TV director Takemitsu Sato felt an inner voice calling him, “Why don’t you come?" when he heard that the people of his hometown of Futaba had evacuated to the Saitama Super Arena last March.
The 63-year-old director decided to head to Futaba with camera in hand, becoming a video journalist, which he always wanted to be.
Sato created the documentary film “Tachiiri-kinshi-kuiki, Futaba--Saredo-waga-kokyo” (The off-limits area, Futaba: our hometown despite that), covering his hometown of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, for eight months after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The film will be screened at a Tokyo theater from March 17.
In late March last year, Sato drove into Futaba in protective gear, to witness what was going on in a town close to the crippled nuclear plant. He barked at a police officer who tried to discourage him from entering, “I’ll take full responsibility for this.” His style was not unlike that of U.S. documentary director Michael Moore.
Sato, in fact, graduated from Futaba High School in the town. He visited former classmates, who evacuated to various places, without notifying them in advance. He attempted to bring their guard down by speaking to them as he would have had nothing happened--“It’s been a long time. Let's talk.”
From more than 40 people, he managed to draw out stories that disaster victims would only share with another person from their hometown.
Sato’s father was a policeman who took part in the investigation into the Matsukawa train derailment in 1949, in which three people were killed. The derailment was blamed on the Japanese Communist Party and led to the arrests of labor union members who were later found to be not guilty after being forced to confess. Sneaking into his father’s study, Sato secretly read books related to communism.
After entering Nihon University, he was absorbed in student movements. After graduation, he joined the film studio Toho Co. and studied under the prominent director Shohei Imamura. Sato has directed about 100 TV dramas and other productions. But he had long thought, “I want to be a journalist as well as a director."
When Sato visited his former school after a long lapse, he felt some guilt at doing so only at such a difficult time. But because he felt guilty for being away so long, he will continue his effort in filming in Futaba.