[KineJapan] Uplink lawsuit

[Gerow Aaron]

Four former employees of Uplink, the film theater and distribution company, have sued the president of the company, Asai Takashi, accusing him of repeated instances of power harassment. They said he continually yelled at and berated employees, even in front of others, forcing them to write apologies and work overtime without pay. The four have made their names public and held a press conference. Major news agencies, as well as the wide shows, have taken up the story. Here’s one story:

https://www.cinra.net/column/202006-uplink_skkskcl

This has been a major shock for the indie film community in Japan since Uplink has been instrumental in enabling even the smallest of art and experimental films to get a theatrical release. Asai has also been active in defending alternative culture, even suing the authorities two decades ago when police tried to prevent him from selling a Robert Mapplethorpe photo book. When theaters had to close down due to COVID-19, Asai was one of the leaders in arguing the case for the importance of small theaters. 

My Facebook feed has been full of comments by people who know Asai. Everyone condemns what he did, but a few mentioned their regrets over knowing it happened, but never saying anything about it. One TV report I saw used the term “yarigai sakushu やりがい搾取”--perhaps “exploiting rewarding work”—to describe exploitation of the desire of people to work at place, often associated with culture, that is contributing to society in a positive way. I am afraid there is probably a lot of that in Japan, with many culture-related institutions depending on young people working for little or no money, but Asai brought it into the foreground by harassing those who were being exploited in that way.

Asai made a quick apology on the company website and says he will make a full comment in a day or two.

Aaron Gerow
Professor
Film and Media Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Chair, East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
143 Elm Street, Room 210
PO Box 208324
New Haven, CT 06520-8324
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6729
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu <mailto:aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
website: www.aarongerow.com


















-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20200617/fb459b15/attachment-0001.html>