Closing of Cocomaru?

What a pity…

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Hiroshi: I think Cocomaru is struggling. I went by today and only two films were showing.

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Hiroko: I went by a couple of days ago and the shutters were rolled down. Not even open. Notice flapping in the wind.

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Hiroshi: It was open today. Sort of. But definitely in trouble. No one in the box office. I asked the shop next door if the theater was still in business and he said he thought they were clearing out.

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Hiroko: Business model always did seem to be the elephant in the room.

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Hiroshi: Despite the most enthusiastic managing, many small businesses call it quits for reasons like inexperience or insufficient capital.

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Hiroko: Crowdfunding all burned up so no payouts for the contributors I guess.

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Voice-over

Cocomaru was a unique art theatre. Oasis among the sometimes kitschy commerce of Kichijoji. Can be hard to make a sustainable profit out of alternative culture though.

...

A painter who never left his garden

A chat on the bus…

Seeing one ant doesn't mean 
 you have seen them all.
adapted from E.O. Wilson

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Jun: Just saw a film at Cocomaru. A 97 year old painter who hadn’t been out of his garden for 30 years.

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Noriko: What did he do every day?

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Jun: He had everything he needed in there. Observed nature: flowers blooming, ants scurrying. And based on a real person. Mori Kumagai. An artist who painted close-ups of nature.

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Noriko: So he didn’t need to see the world. People came and went.

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Jun: Well, there was a dark side. Developers put up a high rise next door blocking out the sun.

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Voice-over

Echoes of Xavier de Maistre who wrote Voyage autour de ma chambre (Voyage Around My Room) in 1794. Confined to his room by house arrest for engaging in a duel, he endured six weeks and wrote about it.

Are such stories curiosities, or are they inspirational?

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