FARALLON FILMS

LIVING ON TOKYO TIME counts the beats in the life of Kyoko (Minako Ohashi), a 19-year-old Japanese dishwasher stuck in San Francisco, and Ken (Ken Nakagawa), a shy janitor/guitarist unwilling to engage with the world around him.

Kyoko has overstayed the limit on her green card, but is determined to prove to her family that she can do what she set out to do – forget a broken engagement back home and survive on her own abroad. Through the coaxing of bossy go-between Lana (Kate Connell), Ken agrees to marries Kyoko so she can stay in the U.S. What he doesn't anticipate, however, is falling in love.

Initially funded with a grant from the American Film Institute, the low-budget film was concocted as a multiple weekend “let’s see where this goes” project with co-writer John McCormick and a cast of Bay Area actors and crew. “Then Minako Ohashi showed up, bringing the main character to life,” said Okazaki, “and suddenly we were making a movie.” LIVING ON TOKYO TIME premiered at Sundance in 1987, was picked up by a Skouras Pictures; and was released in 57 theaters in 52 cities across the country, with long runs in San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle and Honolulu.

Produced by LYNN O'DONNELL and DENNIS HAYASHI

Directed by STEVEN OKAZAKI

1987 / Comedy / 87 Minutes