#JapaneseFilm

Blurring the boundaries between public discourse and private desire, the newly released film “A Unique Country in Asia” by director Kenji Yamauchi has thrust questions of sex and politics into the Asian cultural spotlight, igniting conversation from living rooms to lawmakers’ chambers. The film opens with a provocative scene: a clandestine sex worker in modern Japan becomes so caught up discussing the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that she forgets to finish servicing her client—bringing political anxieties literally into the bedroom. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that political allegiance and social identity permeate even the most intimate spaces in society (Japan Times).