- Director, Photography, Editing
- Yoshitaka Nitta
- Cast
- Abaa Wrappers, Morito, Sakae-machi Market, and customers
- publicity
- three pins
- 製作・配給
- EURASIAVISION
- URL
- http://utae-machigwa.com
Naha’s Sakaemachi Market with 60 years of history
The story of Machigwa, which once lost its energy
A Story of Laughter and Revival
The hollowing out of local cities, shuttered shopping streets, ghost towns. We hear such news on TV and the Internet. Is it really so?
Sakaemachi Market is located in Naha, Okinawa. It was 60 years ago that the market was born. It was at its peak in the 1950s. After that, it gradually lost its vitality due to the advent of large supermarkets. However, energetic grandmothers and young people who came from somewhere else started to revive the old-fashioned Machigwa.
The key word is “music”. At the center of the group is the “Sakae-cho Obaa Rappers”. They are three girls who grew up in the market, or three grandmothers. The three girls, or rather, three grandmothers, who grew up in the market, spend all their time practicing rapping in order to revitalize the market, and it makes my heart ache.
A deep life where people are connected to people
I remember now.
Directed by Nitta Yoshitaka, who has produced numerous documentaries on the front lines of television news. He fell in love with the climate and people of Okinawa when he was transferred there, and settled down to make “Sing Machigwa” with the people of Sakaemachi Market.
In a corner of modern Japan where the bonds between people have become thin, Machigwa in Okinawa is a place where people live in deep connection with each other.
People who love the market from the bottom of their hearts sing, dance and have fun through music.
Perhaps there is a hint for us to live a truly happy life there.
