Japanese director endeavors to make unbiased record on China

Editor's Note: 

A growing number of foreigners who are living or have lived in China are now presenting China's real life to the outside world through their videos and tweets. Today, we present you the sixth of a series of stories about the social media influencers who are endeavoring to right the wrong of the Western perception of China.

On June 26, a one-hour documentary, "Long time no see, Wuhan," reached 14 million views and 150,000 reposts within two days on Chinese and overseas video platforms. The director of this work surprisingly is a Japanese independent documentary director, Ryo Takeuchi.

He went to Wuhan in June, one month later than the closed city was open to the public and recorded the daily life of Wuhan residents, in order to present the real image of the city in central China.

The documentary dispels prejudices concerning Wuhan, which was the epicenter of the outbreak in China. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian gave a thumbs up to Takeuchi's work, saying that the film is touching and “It also shows the resilience and optimism of Wuhan residents.”

"Curiosity is my drive to make documentaries. Authenticity is my basic principle. It is the real China I presents through my lens," Takeuchi told Shenzhen Daily.

Unscripted documentary

A bond between the director with China has started from 2001, when he was 23 to film a documentary about mahjong. About nine years later, he came to China again. With an NHK team, he spent one year shooting the Yangtze River. These experiences have strengthened his determination to record the country full of changes and opportunities.

His wife and Takeuchi moved to Nanjing city, Jiangsu Province, in 2013, setting up a documentary studio titled He Zhi Meng, and registering a self-media account under the same name. The original intention was to foster more communication between China and Japan, as he realized that Chinese people had little knowledge about contemporary Japan.

To truthfully record the reality, Takeuchi doesn't write scripts for filming. He prefers to feature characters that are mostly ordinary people and record their daily life in a realistic style.

"I like to film the details (of the characters). I want to show their thoughts and personalities via those details. For example, when an interviewee suddenly shakes their hands or legs, I will use a close-up shot to capture it. That's what unscripted documentary means," he told Shenzhen Daily.

"The Reason I Live Here" ("I Live") is his first unscripted documentary series depicting Chinese people living in Japan and foreigners residing in China. It aims to enhance different countries' understanding of each other. The first three seasons have won a score of 9.8 out of 10 on the review website Douban. Chinese citizens affectionally gave Takeuchi a Chinese nickname, "Uncle Liang."

The fifth fan meeting for "I Live" was held in Nanjing on Dec 19, 2019. Photos courtesy of the director

Ryo Takeuchi interviews a Japanese living in China for "I Live" series.

Ryo Takeuchi interviews a Japanese living in China for "I Live" series.

China's anti-pandemic achievements

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Takeuchi found more and more inconsistency between foreign news and what he experienced in China. "I had read many smearing coverages released by western and Japanese media about China's epidemic. I decided to show the real China to the world as an expat."

So he shoot three works under China's anti-pandemic combat topic. The first is a 10-minute short video "Nanjiang First Scene: A city sees no more new confirmed Covid-19 cases" recording Nanjing's efficient pandemic preventive and control measures. A second work is an abovementioned film "Long Time No See, Wuhan" featuring 10 days of 10 people's daily life in Wuhan, the central China's Hubei Province. The last one is a documentary titled "The Post-Pandemic Era" putting light on China's achievements in immediate epidemic control and the recovery of the economy.

He told Shenzhen Daily that he aims to raise Japanese people's awareness of the importance of pandemic prevention and control and to share China's successful anti-pandemic measures with Japan and other countries.

Takeuchi's "The China's Anti-pandemic Trilogy" has earned him countless views on video platforms worldwide and has made him widely known in China, Japan and other countries. He also won praise from Foreign Ministry spokespersons Zhao Lijian and Hua Chunying.

Hua made a remark in a daily news briefing, saying that "We appreciate the fact that Takeuchi recorded truthfully without bias this extraordinary journey that China has gone through."

Ryo Takeuchi interviews a Wuhan resident for "Long Time No See, Wuhan."

Poverty alleviation in the Daliang Mountains

"Beyond the Mountain" is the independent expat director's another documentary on social issues. He focused on China's poverty alleviation policy in this work.

He visited Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan province 10 years ago for NHK's Yangtze River documentary. "I could only ride a donkey into the Daliang Mountains, which was really poor at that time," said Takeuchi. "Is it possible that these places can get rid of poverty over a decade? I want to see for myself."

After filming, he has hailed China's poverty relief efforts and the significant achievements.

He was amazed by the changes of infrastructure and living conditions in the Daliang Mountains, such as free resettlement houses provided by the government and convenient transporation. On the other hand, he said bluntly "It is tough to liberate people in the mountains from poor information access. A change of mindset is required."

"I was moved by interviewee's weeping," said Takeuchi. "A mother wearing Yi traditional costumes especially to greet us, as our photographer Xu Liang taught her kid before. Xu made a speech in the school where he used to teach as a volunteer, he and his former students all burst into tears. The emotion they expressed shows how important education means to the people in the Daliang Mountains."

Ryo Takeuchi listens to music played by local students in the Daliang Mountains.

A fine line

"There doesn't exist an absolutely objective documentary. It is impossible to be 100 percent neutral," said Takeuchi. "My subjective intention is to show the facts, the likes of which I see. We are doing our best to be objective."

He said that western and Japanese media are apt to exaggerate China’s bad side and blacken China on purpose. "For example, there is the food security problem in a Chinese restaurant, which is very normal in a country with a population of 1.4 billion. However, the foreign media would state that the whole of China has the food security problem, which is lying and smearing." 

Some foreign media and netizens questioned his motives behind presenting the positive side of China. "Some Japanese media maligned that I am a spy from China, noting that I was paid by the Chinese government. Those ridiculous comments made me very angry!”

He told that He Zhi Meng doesn't set any frame before filming: "Neither the positive energy,  nor the negative angle is the things we would take into consideration. We decide the theme based on the footage we shoot."

With the earnings from shooting business films, the studio is able to film independent social issue-themed documentaries. "The 'Long time no see, Wuhan' is completed by my team from planning to shooting, editing and projecting. The company actually bore losses for this filmed documentary." 

"I would never ever have a double standard," said Takeuchi. "We posted the same content on overseas and Chinese media platforms at the same time. If the documentary is pro-China, the overseas audiences will say it is forged. If it is anti-China, Chinese people will have no interest. It is tough to find a fine line."

When asked whether he would give up shooting, Takeuchi said he would keep working until He Zhi Meng closes down. "Although my documentaries have triggered a lot of cyber-bully, more people watch and recognize my works."