Welcome to Season 3 of Ikigai with Jennifer Shinkai!

Adrian Francis is the filmmaker behind the powerful documentary Paper City, exploring the impact of the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945 and the ongoing struggle for it to be acknowledged and remembered. Adrian was brave enough to come on the show at a point where he has not figured out his next steps yet. I thought this was an opportunity not to be missed: to hear from someone in the midst of a transition after completing a major project. If you are also going through a period of transition and haven’t got it all figured out, I think you will find much solace and inspiration in this episode. All those questions? Those hard to grasp ideas and concepts that feel so murky right now? Totally normal…in fact, an essential part of the process!

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Adrian came to make a film about the firebombing of Tokyo
• What happens when you finish a project that has been the main focus of your life
• How you can find meaning for your next challenge
• Flashing forward and backward in our lives to see what our values are independent of current circumstances

About Adrian

Originally from Australia, Adrian Francis has lived in Tokyo for 17 years, working as a teacher, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He majored in documentary film at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University. Francis directed the award-winning documentary short, Lessons from the Night, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He was invited to participate in the Berlinale Talents program at the Berlin Film Festival, where he began developing the project that would become Paper City—his first feature-length film. Paper City premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2021 and has screened theatrically in Japan, and internationally at festivals and through Al Jazeera's Witness series. It has won numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the Tokyo Documentary Film Festival, an ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) Award for Best History Documentary, and Best Emerging Director at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. He recently gave a TEDxWasedaU talk on the bombing of civilians, Paper City: Memory, Forgetting, and the Firebombing of Tokyo. Most recently, Adrian has become interested in what we can do to take climate change action.

Things mentioned in the episode:

Paper City Screening:

March 1-7 at Eigakan Stranger

Screening daily at 11:20 (with English subtitles)

3 Chome-7-1 Kikukawa, Sumida City, Tokyo 130-0024

https://stranger.jp/movie/2541/

TEDxWasedaU Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFr3U3bbuMg

Connect with Adrian and find out more about Paper City:

Paper City Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/papercitytokyo/

Paper City Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/papercitytokyo

Paper City X: https://twitter.com/papercitytokyo

Paper City Website: papercityfilm.com

Adrian’s Instagram: