[KineJapan] Shinsekai RIP

[Peter Larson]

oh man, I always make a pilgrimage to the Kokusai whenever I visit Osaka, I
have numerous pictures of those handpainted signs.

I even braved going into the basement level pink theater, which was an
experience all its own. While the theater was kind of what you'd expect,
video projection of pink films, really not clean, lots of elderly men, some
cross dressing... people doing stuff (stay away from the bathrooms).

The drink machine section was the real attraction for me where there were
som extremely interesting conversations to be had. One time I had drinks
(Ozeki One Cup, baby!) with an elderly couple (the lady was not cross
dressing) who had been coming to the kokusai for decades. They happily told
me all about what would go on there back in the 1960s, when they started
visiting. They didn't even dress it up, no graphic detail seemed to be
spared, but it was still extremely endearing all the same to hear an
obviously still very happy couple happily reminisce about the objectively
wild things they did in their youth.

Among all my other life regrets, I regret not showing up on a Monday for
the sign change.The person working there invited me to show up and meet the
guys who paint the signs.

Shinsekai is hardly what it used to be, many of the cinemas, pink or not,
are gone, and the earthy vibe that used to make it a great place to be is
long gone. But still, if you go there late at night, the same crossdressing
street walkers are hidden in corners, still making the rounds. With the
closing of the Kokusai, I'm not sure they will have anywhere to go.

Say what you will about these kinds of theaters, but there was a real
community of people built up around them, just like any other communal
space. With the loss of the Kokusai, that community might no longer exist.

Pete

On Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 10:48 PM Markus Nornes via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> Mike Arnold brought this sad news to my attention. What a drag.
>
>
> https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/6399ba6eeddeb27cac6e171146e55276d41a77fa?fbclid=IwdGRleAQsNmJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xNzM4NDc2NDI2NzAzNzAAAR7KWBGOPFc3ZABYKa7fqO3KwkMVG5jhanOuU0hrpnn-tFL1ONZ0yY3LhW463Q_aem_SuJarwy-iIC7XzmjgRvqAA
>
> Read the article. It’s great. You’ll get a sense for what you missed if
> you never visited. Anyone have stories?
>
> M
>
> ---
>
> *Markus Nornes*
> *Professor of Asian Cinema*
>
> Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages
> and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
>
>
>
>
> *Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/
> <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/>*
> *Department of Film, Television and Media*
> *6348 North Quad*
> *105 S. State Street**Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
>
>
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