How do you balance big name creators and films with lesser-known personal favourites?
Jasper: Obviously we each have our favourite directors, and there were also ones that neither of us really were too enthusiastic about, who inevitably suffered because of this. I think we have a good balance however. But it’s such a large industry that trying to cover everyone who was anyone over the past 10 or 20 years was always going to be impossible. What the book does do, however, is highlight crucial trends that were relevant at the turn of the 21st century, and also serve to give a good indication of where Japanese cinema might be heading in the immediate future. Tom: All the major names are included in the book, but we had the freedom to occasionally come up with surprising choices. It’s good to include unexpected choices and odd outsiders in a book of this kind, because it opens up the entire argument and gives a much wider view of the industry. There are filmmakers who maybe aren’t so well known outside Japan, but who are held in high regard at home. The established cannon of
