Ebisu Bridge: A Tale of Modern Japan

Homeless and disabled, Motoshima Saburo, 58, sells The Big Issue on Osaka’s colorful Ebisu Bridge, a short pedestrian thoroughfare filled with tourists, lovers, artists and hustlers of every stripe. Constantly struggling with both destitution and loneliness, which he compares to a jail where one is both prisoner and warden, Saburo falls into a moral battle with Ken, an aging toy boy and “dating club” tout, for the soul of “The Waif,” a tranquilizer addicted 17-year-old runaway, whom Ken has used for a haywire robbery. Saburo assumes the role of father and lover, though he cannot be either to the confused girl who will not tell him or anyone else her name. The story is set in 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession, which adds to the desperation that the three main characters face and casts an ominous shadow over the daily buoyancy on Ebisu Bridge.