One morning in 2002, a 24-year-old Japanese man named Naoki went to work as usual. That night, he boarded a ferry, and to this day his relatives have not seen or heard from him. Shockingly, Naoki’s story is not uncommon. In 2017 alone, nearly 85,000 Japanese men and women went missing. Most of them were found or returned. The rest are called johatsu – or evaporated people – because they voluntarily disappear from their established lives. The eponymous documentary explores the reasons someone might have caused them to disappear, and the unsolved wreckage they leave behind.
Through interviews with a prominent missing persons investigator in the area, we learned that many of these cases did not involve murder and that the motives behind some enforced disappearances were often puzzling and seemingly non-existent.
But there is also an element in many of these disappearances that points to a larger phenomenon. An underground industry specializes in “Night Walk,” a type of consumer witness protection program. When people want to escape creditors, escape a troubled home life, or simply want a fresh start, they turn to these companies to arrange their getaway. The camera follows one such business owner as he travels to Tokyo to secretly meet with a potential client. In 17 years, the business has helped more than 1,500 people go missing.
In addition to leaving behind grieving family members, the filmmakers also spent time with one of the “missing people.” Without seeing his distinctive facial features, he reconstructs why he left his wife and children and explains how he sustains himself in his newly created life.
Within these individual stories and profiles, a larger story is taking shape. Vaporized Man is not just the story of modern Japan, but the story of an entire global society. What conditions make us long to start our lives anew? How do you maintain individuality in such a stressful and superficial culture?
Directed by: Sun Sheau Huei
