Today, September 27,
Yukashi Inc. marks its seventh anniversary.
Looking back,
a lot has happened over these seven years.
It was 2019.
I was fifty-one.
I returned to the world of filmmaking
as a driver on Takuya Misawa’s film
The Murders of Oiso.
I wasn’t making films.
I wasn’t distributing them.
I started again
by driving people and equipment around.
But even then,
I already had something in mind.
Someday,
I wanted to distribute films.
From there,
working alongside fellow distribution companies,
I became involved in the distribution of Bi Gan’s Kaili Blues.
I later co-distributed
Shinichi Otsuka’s Yokosuka Kitan.
I started as a driver.
Then came distribution.
And eventually,
under our film label, Cinemago,
we began distributing films independently,
promoting them,
and producing films of our own.
More recently,
we even started a cleaning-services business—
something completely different from film.
People joined.
People left.
Some things went well.
Others hurt quite a bit.
And yet,
the company is still here.
And today,
we are already working on the next job.
Rather than thinking,
“Seven years! What an anniversary!”
what I really feel is,
“Well… we somehow made it through seven years.”
Perhaps a company,
when it is first incorporated,
exists only on paper.
Then it works.
It meets people.
It makes mistakes.
And it goes back to work again.
Little by little,
perhaps that is how
a corporation becomes something
a little more alive.
Seven years have passed.
Yukashi Inc.
is now entering its eighth year.
I doubt
the road ahead will be smooth.
But then again,
if everything were smooth,
it probably wouldn’t feel
much like my company.
Yukashi Inc.
Year Eight.
Well then,
Mr. Yukashi.
Where shall we go next?
To Be Continued…
Written by
Mitsu Demachi
Born in Bunkyo, Tokyo, in 1968, Mitsu Demachi graduated as a member of the inaugural class of the Japan Academy of Moving Images.
He began his career as an assistant director at a film studio, but eventually left the industry. Following his experience of a major earthquake, he decided to return to the world of cinema.
In his mid-forties, he enrolled at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, where he revisited and deepened his understanding of film theory. After graduating, he worked as a writer and later editor-in-chief for an online film publication before moving into film distribution.
Today, he is the President of Yukashi Inc., working across film distribution, production, and related projects. His producing credits include Oboro no Hanabi and Koi no Enkaku Sōsa.
On his days off, he enjoys watching professional wrestling and is an enthusiastic supporter of Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling.