Shochiku coup

[Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow]

Thanks to Marie for conveying the news:

>I just found in _Yomiuri Shimbun_ that Toru Okuyama (President) and
>Kazuyoshi Okuyama (Senior Vice President) of Shochiku were ditched at
>today's Torishimari-yaku Kai.

According to the Mainichi, the meeting only took 2 minutes and the 
Okuyama's were not even informed of the move beforehand.  The vote was 
11-2 for, with 3 abstensions.  Also, employee groups quickly met to 
support the decision.

>The article reports that the action was a kind of coup lead by the new
>President, Nobuyoshi Otani, who is a grand-son of the founder Takejiro
>Otani.  The Okuyamas are accused of their arbitrary administration
>(especially personnel) and supporting many unprofitable and hopeless
>projects.

Some specifics cited: the Tora-san money source had dried up and the weak 
"Niji o tsukamu otoko" was not making up the difference.  The Okuyamas 
tried new things like the "Film Fund" and Cinema Japanesque, but the 
latter, while producing great films like _Unagi_ and _Cure_, is in 
general a box-office failure.

>I wonder how Shochiku's strategy for film production/distribution will
>change.

Anyone with inside info or good prognosticating skills?

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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