Tonde Saitama Local-1 Grand Prix Awards Ceremony at New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park. “The funniest thing…”

The Local-1 Grand Prix awards ceremony and stage greeting for Tonde Saitama the movie was held on 23 February at New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park (3 minutes’ walk from Shinshozawa Station West Exit), and it was attended by lead actors Nikaido Fumi-san and GACKT (Gakuto), along with director Takeuchi Hideki. The cinema’s unique seats became quite the topic.

Rei-sama brings Momomi to Tokorozawa
Shin Tokorozawa made lively by famous celebrities!

The “Local-1 Grand Prix” is based on Tonde Saitama’s theme of “local love”. Before the release of the movie, the 137 cinemas around the country appealed their “loving, self-deprecating joke” on Twitter and the tweet of the cinema that receives the most votes wins the Grand Prix. It was planned that lead actors Nikaido Fumi-san and GACKT would attend the awards ceremony for this together to congratulate the winner.

The catchphrase that New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park used as their atrocious appeal point was “Even though this is Tokorozawa, our famed local produce is ‘Sayama Tea’. But it’s also Asami Rei-sama’s hometown”.

The result of the fierce voting battle between tweets was an impressive win of the Grand Prix by Tokorozawa’s New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park. Even though it was in 3rd place at the time of the interim announcement, the Tweet suddenly caught up as the voting deadline neared and ended up shining at the top.

And… Tokorozawa is a popular location for TV and movie programs to film at, but the citizens grew excited when it was announced that “famous celebrities” were coming.

On the day that Nikaido Fumi-san, GACKT-san, and director Takeuchi arrived for the awards ceremony, the inside of Shin-Tokorozawa Parco which led to New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park and the area around it was already crowded with people since morning.

Tokorozawa’s star cinema’s “Kotatsu seats” teased
“The funniest thing…”

During this day’s awards ceremony, the front row box seats that were provided for the reporter’s photography and filming area were “kotatsu seats”.

When Nikaido-san was asked for a congratulatory message from the emcee of the Grand Prix, she said, “Congratulations on the Grand Prix. Looks comfortable… What that? Kotatsu?!”

Even though the cameras of the reporters in the kotatsu seats were pointed at him, GACKT-san couldn’t hide his laughter, saying, “This is the funniest. The image of reporters sitting in kotatsu while taking photos is just so weird… This is the funniest thing this year”. The two lead actors both found themselves “teasing” the “kotatsu seats” that Tokorozawa is proud of.


Turning “teasing” into a plus! That is Saitama Prefecture’s cinema. New Tokorozawa Let’s Cine Park’s manager Hayase Tomohiro flipped the switch and brought in his Saitama spirit (he’s a Tokyo native but loves Tokorozawa), starting up his aggressive promoting. “We had our renewal 2 years ago and we made a theatre that would be able to make the audience feel like they’re in a live concert with the front rows filled, and made the front row seats the centrepiece. The ‘kotatsu seats’ can seat 3 adults and the row behind that are ‘electric reclining seats with footrests’. Behind that too, are ‘backrest reclining’ seats. All these seats are ‘premium seats’ that were added to improve the viewing environment after the refurbishment”.


Having heard manager Hayase’s explanation, Nikaido-san said, “I enjoy going to the cinema to watch movies but the cinema that I liked has disappeared, and in this era when theatres are dwindling in numbers, such a cinema that renews its interior and attracts new customers is something that I think is wonderful. I’ll go on to support (Let’s Cine Park) going forward too”.

GACKT-san too gave a shoutout to applause from the audience, saying, “There’s no other manager who does his best with so much effort”. Manager Hayase looked terribly grateful.

 

「First 30 minutes might be a painful stretch of time for Saitama natives」Director Takeuchi

Manager Hayase received the Local-1 Grand Prix sash from GACKT-san, the crown from Nikaido-san, and the “Sai-tama Ball”, which was used during the Japan premiere (18 January 2019) and is only available in limited quantities, from director Takeuchi.

After that, he said, “It’s an honour to win the Grand Prix. This time, we’ve carried out a variety of promotional activities centred around the theme of ‘Shin-Tokorozawa Holy Grounds Plan’ and received a lot of support from everyone. I would like to dedicate this Grand Prix to all of you”.

Manager Hayase also promoted the movie well, saying, “If you come and watch it more than once, you’ll realise that this is a movie that tickles your local love and at the same time, you’ll think ‘Ah, so such a character existed’ or ‘Ah, that flag has something written on it’ or ‘Ah, my city is written there’ at various points of the movie”.

Tonde Saitama is a live-action movie adaptation based on the original by Maya Mineo, who is the author of Patalliro! and was a citizen of Tokorozawa.

Director Takeuchi said, “I gathered information about Saitama over a period of 2 years and sprinkled little jokes (in the movie). For Saitama natives, the first 30 minutes might be a painful stretch of time, but at the end, I believe that you’ll understand that this is a story about the local love for Saitama. Please do share your thoughts on SNS too, and encourage people who daren’t watch the movie to come to the theatre to see it”.

※Orignal work Maya Mineo「Kono Manga ga Sugoi! comics Tonde Saitama」(Takarajimasha)

GACKT-san’s junior, actor Takigawa Eiji-san also came to the theatre in his own time

As the stage greeting came to an end, GACKT-san had a docile expression on his face and began with, “This is private talk but”. Going on, he spoke of his junior, actor Takigawa Eiji-san coming to the theatre in a wheelchair to watch the movie and look over the audience while watching the stage greeting.

Takigawa Eiji-san fell during the filming of the drama “Yowamushi Pedal Season 2” and suffered a severe spinal cord injury that caused him to be wheelchair bound. He is presently working hard at rehabilitation while being an emcee for BS Sukapaー!’s PARA SPORTS NEWS Athlete Pride.

GACKT-san encouraged him, saying, “I’ve also received strength from him too, and I hope that I’d be able to work on something with him again one day. I’d like to give a shoutout to him”.

Source: tokorozawanavi.com

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA