REVIEW: DVD Release: Sinking Of Japan

Release date: 8th March 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 135 mins
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Mao Daichi, Etsushi Toyokawa
Genre: Action/Drama/Sci-Fi
Studio: MVM
Format: DVD
Country: Japan

Based on a 1973 novel by Japanese sci-fi writer Komatsu Sakyo, Sinking Of Japan appears strangely timely - the apocalyptic action movie, in which seismic shifts threaten to sink the archipelago of Japan, saw its UK release while an earthquake hit off the coast of the Maule region of Chile, triggering a series of tsunamis. The warning message at the beginning of the film (“One day soon. Maybe tomorrow”) suddenly rang true.

Sinking Of Japan is straight in with the action: Toshio Onodera drags himself through the debris of an earthquake to rescue a young girl, Misuki Kuraki, from an imminent explosion. As a power line collapses and falls towards a pool of petrol, a figure emerges through the smoke and flames. Reiko Abe, a female rescue worker, carries them both to safety. True love is born.

Meanwhile, Dr Tadokoro, Toshio’s boss, is discovering that Japan is sinking, and will soon have proof that there are but 338.54 days left to figure something out. A series of unlikely events are set in motion as some of the population are evacuated while others die in their millions, and still more wander around looking vaguely unconcerned.

In the midst of the carnage, someone has the good sense to ask Dr Tadokoro if he has a plan, which, of course, he does. It only has a very slim chance of success, and nobody questions why it was not set in motion a couple of days earlier, but then it is a disaster movie after all…


In the tradition of American disaster films, Sinking Of Japan relies heavily on CGI explosions as city after city falls into the sea. The destruction of the archipelago is depicted by a series of shots from space charting the spread of volcanic eruptions and the seas encroachment. These become somewhat repetitive and take time away from the development of a cohesive storyline.

In order to justify the ‘sinking’, the start of the film is chock full of scientific explanations, something that would be brushed over with a broad “scientists say…” kind of statement in other films of a similar nature. This comes across as slightly heavy-handed, is pretty indecipherable, and makes it feel like you are watching a scientific documentary – a feeling that grows as statements such as, “Data analysis predicts time of geological event,” appear on the screen to explain the action.

The human relationships that should add emotion and drama are often badly drawn and lack depth. They also appear contrived. Dr Tadokoro’s ex-girlfriend just happens to be Takamori, an important Government Minister, who ends up running the country after the Prime Minister dies and the acting Prime Minister flees to safety. Luckily, this allows her to implement Tadokoro’s plan to save Japan. Convenient.

The music score is awful. During the emotional final farewell between Toshio and Reiko, a duet is sung in the background, the lyrics are subtitled, and all feeling is drained from the moment by the sickly sweet words. At other points during their relationship, desperately dated strings intrude to ruin the mood, implying either a very confusing ‘70s cop show, or possibly something verging on the pornographic.

However, the sentiment of the film, that slightly wimpy Toshio can only sacrifice his life to save Japan when he has Reiko to protect, is pretty enough, and Reiko, as female action hero, is endearingly unconventional. There is also a veiled jab at Korea, as it is mentioned that all of the world’s countries have agreed to take in Japanese refugees bar North and South Korea. There is even a shot of the migrants being turned away from Korean ports.

In general, the cinematography of the film is strong. The opening sequence is a montage of Japan’s landscape through the seasons. There is also a particularly impressive scene in the flat shot from the inside looking out, with Toshio and Reiko framed by the windows as they stand on the balcony with the sunset behind them. Of course, there are lots of buildings collapsing, as well, leaving the outlook appearing convincingly bleak, and the director makes good use of all the moodily grey ‘stumbling through ash’ moments, as characters miraculously travel miles, apparently on foot (possibly with some swimming through flooded areas), to arrive at exactly the same place as their loved ones without any from of communication.


Sinking Of Japan tries hard but ultimately fails to deliver. Higuchi manages to complicate and confuse what could be a relatively simple plot, and in doing so fails to make an innovative or challenging contribution to this well worn genre. EM

REVIEW: DVD Release: Sinking Of Japan

Film: Sinking Of Japan
Release date: 8th March 2010

Certificate: 12

Running time: 135 mins

Director: Shinji Higuchi

Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Mao Daichi, Etsushi Toyokawa

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Studio: MVM

Format: DVD

Country: Japan

With “2012 meets Tidal Wave” emblazoned across the DVD’s cover, this never promised much, but the sinking of a whole country would surely offer some thrills.

Japan, a country made up of many active volcanoes (so definitely primed for this sort of disaster flick), has suddenly realised that their whole country will sink within 50-80 years - but if that geological implausibility isn’t enough to stretch viewers’ rational, scientist Dr. Yusuke Tadokoro (Etsushi Toyokawa) has even worse news. Having spotted some unusual activity in the earth’s crust, he’s realised that this catastrophe will occur within just one year – 338 days to be precise.

Without getting too technical, and not wanting to quote from questionable terms and descriptions within the film, tectonic shifting is seeing layers of the earth’s crust melting away, causing molten rock to rise up and Japan to head in the opposite direction, but despite his findings being laughed off, the country is soon under assault from an increasing number of earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

With no hope – even the president can’t fly without being wiped out by a surprise volcanic eruption – the country decides to evacuate, but with neighbouring countries turning their backs on them (of course, America also does the dirty in selling off their yen), they soon give up on their people and accept an inexorable fate.

However, Dr. Tadokoro wasn’t just going to deliver this bad news and then mope around (although, he does for the majority of the film), he also has an explosive plan (which he’s tried and tested with scrap paper!) to reverse the process and save the country, and many millions of lives…


On paper, it’s all very American, cigar-smoking gung-ho (and there are plenty of key steals, with the selfless act of bravery before the end – and even nods to the likes of Planet Of The Apes), and had they followed up on that promise, we could have suspended belief and enjoyed 120 minutes of brainless destruction. Unfortunately, taking itself far too seriously, and spending most of its time with talking heads (diplomats and scientists) furrow browed and scratching their heads, the film’s sluggish pace, lengthy running time, and the script’s self-pity only highlight its failings.

It’s a given that any disaster flick has to stretch the truth somewhat, but there has to be that element of realism. Although the film does its best with the technical screen shots, bringing all manner of scientific information to our attention, it’s in no way plausible (you don’t need to be a scientist to know this) that activity of the earth’s crust would suddenly shift at such a dramatic pace. And any kind of disaster on this sort of scale would affect more than simply one country – we never see how this catastrophe is and would affect anyone outside Japan (another key Hollywood failing), and, in fact, we never really see how it affects their own country (despite major events, and the aired reports, the population seems to go about their business as usual until a massive tidal wave pops up, for example; we see few people perish, so the affects of which are never explored; and despite the number of volcanic explosions throughout, it takes around 330 days before any ash begins to fall).

You can understand why so little time is given over to the spectacles, or to their neighbouring countries, given the embarrassingly dated special effects - to illustrate an earthquake, for example, the camera will shake, and a volcanic eruption may offer a random ball of fire. You have to question why when operating on such a clear low-budget, they would want to tackle a story which demands impressive, and big scale CGI in today’s age.

As if to mask the budgetary constraints, the film opts for a number of time-consuming, dour, corny subplots – one of the main characters, Toshio Onodera (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), visits his mother to reminisce about the family’s history, and she gives him wonderful advice that “some things mean more than life,” whilst a young girl’s mother wakes from a coma simply to tell her to “stay alive.” A convenient and ill-placed love story between Toshio and Kô Shibasaki (who we discover in more elongated scenes became a rescue worker after being trapped alone and scared following the death of her parents to an earthquake as a child) also rears its head, but the lack of chemistry, poor acting, and atrocious melodramatic music ensures you never feel for these characters, so the ultimate act of heroism doesn’t payoff.

There are also more serious and uncomfortable undertones to the movie. Firstly, the film has a lot of negative things to say about its own country, and the lack of honesty and humanity shown to their people (a minister wants to desert the ‘weak’ straight off). Secondly, it’s rife with paranoia, raising awareness of their feelings for outsiders (as soon as evacuation is mentioned, the PM talks of America abandoning them) and how they believe they are perceived – giving the sense of detachment from the rest of the world.


Tentatively following an already tired American formula, minus the financial clout or tongue-in-cheek, and with serious psychological issues, has produced an uneasy, but more surprisingly dull piece of Japanese cinema. DH