I was approached by Kaikura's trade union to record any proof of intimidation on the company's side in case things got violent, so the footage could be used as legal evidence if things went to court. Originally I wasn't thinking of making a documentary. How did you get to meet Kaikura, the subject of your film?
Jasper Sharp spoke to Tsuchiya, with Sayaka Smith interpreting, just before the results were announced. Working a staggering 552 hours a month without benefits or sick pay, a regime that barely affords him time to wash or eat and which is driving him towards an early grave, Kaikura is encouraged to join his workers union, an act that pits him against his company and their "associate" Mitsuo Kudo, a dubious character with a snarl, tattoos, and an entourage of hired thugs who are prepared to go to any means to keep him in line with company policy.Įxamining the repercussions of the Japanese government's steps to relax labour regulations since the 1990s under the pretext of increased competition in the global market - which has resulted in over a 16 million irregular workers in Japan employed under rapidly worsening conditions - A Normal Life, Please! picked up the award for Best Documentary at the 17th Raindance Film Festival in London.
#AVERAGE SALARY OF A FREETER DRIVER#
Featuring some jaw-dropping moments, the film, which received its overseas premiere at Nippon Connection in 2009, exposes the ugly face of Japanese industry as truck driver Nobukazu Kaikura, a sub-contractor for the Fucox cement haulage company, is pitted against his employers.
Tokachi Tsuchiya's A Normal Life, Please! (Futsu no Shigoto ga Shitai) is a recent addition to the long tradition of do-it-yourself documentaries in Japan that, using the camera as a weapon, attempts to exact social change and redress injustice - in this case in the workplace.
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