KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL

SAYONARA KABUKICHO

By Ryuichi HIROKI

SMILE ENT. - as DISTR Theatrical, TV, DVD-video, VOD, KOREA (South) / BUYER REP

Drama - Completed 2014

Where secrets hide and dreams rest—for a short time

Festivals
& Awards

Toronto - TIFF 2014
Contemporary World Cinema
Busan - BIFF/APM 2014
A Window on Asian Cinema
    • Year of production
    • 2014
    • Genres
    • Drama
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Director(s)
    • Ryuichi HIROKI
    • Writer(s)
    • Haruhiko ARAI, Futoshi NAKANO
    • Producer(s)
    • Mikihiko HIRATA, Naoya NARITA, Kazuya NAITO
    • Synopsis
    • A young man dreams of working at a first-rate hotel, but he’s stuck managing a love hotel in Kabukicho, an infamous entertainment and red-light district in Tokyo teeming with lovers, streetwalkers, johns and pimps. One day, he learns not only that his sister has become a porn star but also that his singer girlfriend is about to sleep with a music producer in order to get signed to a deal. Meanwhile, the love hotel draws a host of other denizens of Kabukicho: a Korean “delivery girl” (the modern term for a call girl) and her troubled customers, a pimp who picks up an underage girl intending to turn her into a prostitute, and a couple of cops having an illicit affair who run into a cleaning lady with a secret of her own.
      Over one day at this love hotel—where guests have the choice of staying for a short time or overnight—the dreams and desires of these characters intersect and collide in a bittersweet portrait of modern Japan as they try to get through the day while aspiring for something greater.