No Election, No Life

Release Date: November 18, 2023
Running Time: 109 minutes
Director: Aki Maeda
Producer: Arata Oshima
Cinematographer: Aki Maeda / Hidenori Takahashi
Editor: Aki Miyajima
Music: The Bassons
Sound: Hajime Takagi

【STORY】

Cost-efficiency? Not a chance!
Time constraints? No problem!
The gaze of an endangered writer obsessed with elections.

This documentary follows Michiyoshi Hatakeyama, a freelance writer with over 25 years of experience immersing himself in the fascinating world of elections–covering everything from national to local races, both in Japan and overseas. His acclaimed book "Silence: The Unreported Battle of the 'Independent Candidates'" (Shueisha) won the 15th Kaiko Takeshi Non-Fiction Award.

Through the 2022 House of Councilors election in Tokyo, he strives to interview all 34 candidates. Averaging two hours of sleep a night, financially strained, he declares at 50, “It’s about time to retire.” Yet his “graduation trip” to Okinawa reveals a vibrant democracy worth fighting for.

This film explores the state of democracy in Japan through Hatakeyama’s lens—revealing both the passion and pain of a life lived chasing elections.

The director is Maeda Aki, known for producing "WHY YOU CANʼT BE PRIME MINISTER" (2020), "Kagawa District 1" (2022), and "The Day of the State Funeral" (2023).
Music by The Bassons, led by rapper Darthreider (also director of "Senkyonandesu the Movie"). An original song was created for the film.