OPEN YOUR EYES

Tokyo 2020 was bid as a “reconstruction” olympic after The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster. And in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was enforced.
This VR film begins with a scene from the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony on July 23, 2021. On that day, citizen volunteers participated in a VR live stream that connected the area in front of the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo with regions affected by nuclear disasters.
Held behind closed doors due to the pandemic, there were many people surrounding the stadium, and many police officers were roped into the traffic restriction.
On the other hand, Futaba Town is empty, with residents evacuated due to a nuclear power plant meltdown. A row of abandoned houses that have been abandoned for a long time, is the reality.
There is a disconnection between the Tokyo metropolitan area, which has been consuming electricity from nuclear power plants that have melted down, and areas that have suffered major damage from the nuclear disaster. This disconnection reached its peak at the Tokyo 2020.
So, ordinary citizens with hope link Tokyo and contaminated areas as “True Torchbearers”.

Is it possible to engage in dialogue to unite forces between them?
Open your eyes and take a look.

  • YUICHI WATANABE
    Director
  • YUICHII WATANABE
    Producer
  • Yoshio Satomi
    Key Cast
  • Naomi Ogawa
    Key Cast
  • Masaaki Goi
    Key Cast
  • Yuichi Watanabe
    Lead Artists
  • Atsushi Kadowaki
    Key Collaborators
    Music
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    目をあけて
  • Project Type:
    Virtual Reality, 360 Video
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Japan
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Student Project:
    No
  • The Melbourne Documentary Film Festival

    Best VR / Interactive Documentary Winner
  • Cologne Short Film Festival

    Germany
    Virtual Reality Competition VR AWARD
Director Biography - YUICHI WATANABE

He is a filmmaker, who found joy in creating projects that transcend genres such as media, social activism, reporting, and art.
Graduated from the Cultural Anthropology Course at Saitama University College of Liberal Arts in 1986. He deepened his thoughts on issues in cultural anthropology, such as the academic practice of separating cultural anthropological research and social activities, which were taken for granted, and the one-way relationship with the research subject(informant).
During his university days, he made an independent student film and decided to pursue film production as a career. After graduating, he began his career as an assistant director for television program production. In 2000, he joined DNA, an independent video journalist group, and covered Afghanistan before and after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, and the Iraq War in 2003.In 2011, he was involved in the launch of the “What-the-citizen-should-do-now Project'' by a collective of citizens and NGOs regarding the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster.This project is still currently ongoing.

Other than production of an orthodox videos such as television, he also carries out a variety of media art projects. For example, a bidirectional video dialogue exchange project using satellite phones by citizens in the era when there was no YouTube or Skype (Afghanistan-Japan High School Dialogue Project,2002), a project of the countdown of the days of housing complex leveled by yakuza(Japanese mafia) to the day until the eviction recorded and transmitted online in real time(Minori-High town Project, 2004). In these projects, he questions the one-way relationship with the subject themselves that traditional video has, and the nature of images that are only shown to the viewer one-sidedly, which pursues the potential of transformative "interactive video".
His current creative theme is to socially implement fair and peaceful "bidirectional relationships" which exist not only between humans, but also between humans and non-humans.
He believes that VR media has the potential to achieve this.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

【The genesis of the project】
The main background of this film is the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster that occurred in 2011.
Tokyo 2020 was bid as a "reconstruction" Olympics after that devastating disaster. However, the reality is that people have been evacuated from the land where the meltdown nuclear power plant is located and cannot live there. Concealing the tragic reality, Tokyo 2020 was held.
The disconnection between the two places and people, Tokyo and the areas with nuclear power plants that have melted down, are the origin of the project.

【Social impact of the project】
These disconnections between two places and people are not just a domestic problem of Japan. It is related to the existing unfair inequality between the center and the periphery all around the world, the parasocial relationship between production and consumption areas, and lack of understanding of others or rejection of others.
These relationships are creating disconnections all around the world that refuse dialogue and cut off others.
It is our mission to create a “bidirectional relationships” between humans that bridges this disconnection, and find a way to save both sides.

【Why did Watanabe make this film with this theme?】
The nuclear power plant which melted down was built in a far away location that has less impact on Tokyo. Director Watanabe, as a citizen of Tokyo where it only consumes electricity unilaterally, is in a heartache because of the fact that the damage of the nuclear disaster was forced onto a local place.
With this feeling in mind, since 2011, director Watanabe has been reporting on the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster.
His current creative theme is to socially implement fair and peaceful "bidirectional human relationships".
He believes that VR media has the potential to achieve this.

【Inspiration and influences】
This project was originally conceived as a citizen-led performance in front of the Tokyo Olympic opening ceremony venue. Through VR live streaming, the project connected Tokyo with areas affected by the nuclear disaster. While VR live streaming is often commercially utilized for virtual tourism, the aim of this project was so-called dark tourism.
The media projects that Watanabe has carried out have been influenced by the Sarajevo Survival Guide (1993), a project by FAMA based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This FAMA project is also considered a form of dark tourism.
Both Watanabe’s and FAMA’s projects cross genres such as media, social practice, reporting, and art.

【Visual and technical approaches】
Despite the fact that VR360 works often use methods that prevent the videographer from being seen, this work has the videographer visible. The performers are the videographers in some scenes.
The disconnection and reconnection between Tokyo and the areas with nuclear power plants that have melted down are depicted in this film.
Therefore, by crossing over the boundary between both people in two places, and yet again beyond the boundaries of videographer / videographed people, it is intended to create a bidirectional relationship by mixing the two, and those are reflected in the method of expression.

【Expectations for audience reaction】
The existing unfair inequality between the center and the periphery and the parasocial relationship between production and consumption areas are embedded in society. Vast people are unable to feel the disconnect between the two, or they spend their daily lives trying not to look at it.
By watching this film, we want you to “open your eyes”, and reconsider this disconnect and think about it.