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Artwork by Benoit Tardif

KANI-027

Tokyo Uber Blues

Taku Aoyagi, 2021
Japan, 93 & 52min

Unemployed in the wake of the pandemic, 26 year-old filmmaker Taku Aoyagi decides to try his luck in Tokyo. Short on worldly possessions but a bike and a phone, he becomes an Uber Eats rider. Now, he can decide his own hours and is free to choose when to take orders! But pedalling through deserted streets delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts to wonder... what was it that Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society?

Thrillingly shot from a first-person perspective on a mixture of smartphones and GoPros, first-time vlogger-turned-director Taku Aoyagi invites the audience to join him on his daily rides speeding through a deserted city. Talking to himself and his peers, he asks: for a young, unemployed person with $40,000 of student debt, does gig-work offer a model for the future?



Bonus features

  • Theatrical Cut (93mins, 2021)
  • Director's Introduction
  • TV Cut (52 mins, 2024) with optional Audio Description
  • The Road He Walks: A Story of He-Kun (47mins, 2018)
  • Performance of “Tokyo Uber Blues” by composer ShĂ» Akiyama (4mins, 2023)
  • Theatrical Q&A in Los Angeles (31mins, 2024)
  • Theatrical Release Trailer (2 mins, 2024)
  • Booklet with new writing by Calliope Vasiliki
  • Optional English subtitles

Unemployed in the wake of the pandemic, 26 year-old filmmaker Taku Aoyagi decides to try his luck in Tokyo. Short on worldly possessions but a bike and a phone, he becomes an Uber Eats rider. Now, he can decide his own hours and is free to choose when to take orders! But pedalling through deserted streets delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts to wonder... what was it that Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society?

Thrillingly shot from a first-person perspective on a mixture of smartphones and GoPros, first-time vlogger-turned-director Taku Aoyagi invites the audience to join him on his daily rides speeding through a deserted city. Talking to himself and his peers, he asks: for a young, unemployed person with $40,000 of student debt, does gig-work offer a model for the future?



Bonus features