On Saturday, Oct. 18, an open-air movie screening was held in a place where there used to be a movie theater (Now, a vacant lot.) in Hojo Shopping Center.
After a survey of vacant land and houses conducted in the spring semester, we tried to come up with ways to make use of these unoccupied spaces. During the course of our discussion, we found out that there used to be a theater (movie) in the Hojo Shopping Center. We were moved by the enthusiastic tone of the local people who spoke about their memories of the theater, and decided to carry out this event.
We planned the event in the hope that the memory of the very lively and busy Hojo Shopping Center in the Showa Period would bring joy across all generations and inspire urban development of the Hojo community. That is why we created the original movie, “Memories of Hojo”, and even tried to make baked sweet potatoes in the Showa style. The preparations were far harder that we had anticipated, but many people from the local area came, the baked sweet potatoes and amazake (sweet rice wine) were well received, and all in all the event was a great success.
The local people gave us enormous support not only by taking part in the shooting and in the conducting of interviews for the movie “Memories of Hojo”, but also in the set up and clean up on the actual day. We feel that we were able to successfully carry out the event thanks to all the people who gave us their support, such as letting us borrow things for the screening and so on. The entire event, including the preparation period in which a small team of us worked on our assigned tasks, was a great experience for me as well.
Some people mentioned that the black and white movie was a bit difficult for children to follow. We would like to take in such comments and other thoughts and wishes of the local people and continue to further promote in the revitalization of the community by making use of vacant properties.
(Shimoda, 4th Year at College of Education)