Internet Cafe Refugees Japan

Japan’s Disposal Workers: Net Cafe Refugees from MediaStorm on Vimeo.

Internet cafes have existed in Japan for a couple of decades, but in the mid 2000’s, a few customers began using these spaces as living quarters. Internet cafe refugees in Japan are mostly temporary employees; their salary too low to rent their own apartments.

How strange it seems that in today’s modern age, few pause their busy lives long enough to realize there are those among us in every culture just not cut out for a corporate job. One man, a former full time Japanese salaryman, can no longer deal with the stresses and pressures of his former profession so he has chosen another position. A different road in life, though with a price to pay in his greatly lowered income.

These are the stories every city has, though rarely told and too seldom seen. They aren’t the pretty stories. The stories of success are the stories most people flock to as the stories they want to identify with. They are the stories that entertain. Stories such as the one above are stories that spark social change. Good stories move good people. Great stories move societies.

A Typical Internet Cafe Booth In Japan. Some people actually live & sleep in this space only slightly larger than a bathtub. Image Source: http://Taylordavidson.com

This film features powerful stories, very well told. There is little wonder this film is winning awards, and rightly so. Is it time you picked up your camera and started telling stories of your own city or town?

A film by: MediaStorm
Director, Photography and Video, Producer: Shiho Fukada
Editor and Producer: Eric Maierson
Associate Producer: Arkasha Stevenson
Motion Graphics: Joe Fuller
Executive Producer: Brian Storm