Name: The Making of a Japanese
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2025-11-18
Duration: 1 h 39 min
Rating: 7.3

Studying English has given me more opportunities to interact with people from overseas, and I've come to appreciate anew the high regard in which Japanese citizens are held abroad. Polite, kind, and orderly, with clean streets and public rules respected. Diligent, meticulous, and professional. This connects directly to the reliability and value of "Made in Japan."

The poster for this work reads: "THE MAKING OF A JAPANESE." Indeed, this film unravels Japanese culture and how Japanese people are shaped, viewed through the lens of elementary school. This perspective is precisely why the film has sparked debate, drawing three distinct opinions that encompass both praise and criticism, making it a thought-provoking piece. Diverse opinions are welcome. Because everyone has their own experiences and their own feelings about elementary school. I have my own opinion, and I want to read and understand each perspective as much as possible.

This film depicts elementary school during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2021. It was a particularly unusual year, forced to endure various unreasonable rules and changes. And my son, too, faced a major turning point the following year, graduating from kindergarten and becoming a first-grader.

My son struggled with group activities in kindergarten. He would scream loudly, run out of the classroom on his own, and in situations requiring group participation, he could only curl up on the spot. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, he had few friends in kindergarten, and a dedicated teacher was the only way to support him.

That same son is now about to finish fourth grade. He has undergone changes that his five-year-old self could never have imagined. He now participates without issue in events like sports days, has made friends, and attends cram school. I know that behind his growth lies the direct guidance of the principal from that time. The principal gave my son special roles, like being in charge of sports equipment preparation, watched over him, and nurtured his growth. Of course, it wasn't just the principal. There were his homeroom teachers, overflowing with both strictness and kindness. The after-school program teachers. The special needs classroom teachers. The staff at the School Support Center and Developmental Support Center. I can't count how many times I've cried knowing so many adults watch over these children, how much support has contributed to my son's growth. I can't count how many times I've felt gratitude.

I've had various opportunities to hear about my son's situation, yet the place where a parent's perspective is hardest to see is the elementary school where he spends the most time. Nowadays, there's an open school day once a month, and compared to when we were elementary students, opportunities to see regular classes should have increased dramatically. Even so, school life remains full of mysteries. This film is one work that unravels such elementary school life.

I've seen opinions about this film calling it excessive discipline, prison-like, or grotesque. The film itself even includes scenes that directly question the precarious nature of discipline-focused education as a double-edged sword that denies diversity. However, a defining feature of this work is that, while it is a documentary, it contains absolutely no narration, and interviews with teachers are kept to an absolute minimum. In other words, it simply reflects school education as it is, and what we, the viewers, take from it is entirely up to us. Both praise and criticism are outcomes of this work and are its value. And those opinions and feelings we gain should be shared with the children. They should be communicated. This is the power of film, and the power of Meme (Social Genes).

Japanese cinema is celebrated for its refined minimalist dramas and avant-garde experimentation; it also introduced popular genres like jidaigeki (samurai epics), kaiju, and anime. Across both high art and mass entertainment, it often explores morality, impermanence, and the pressures of modern life.

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The Making of a Japanese

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