All of 27, Norihiro Koizumi began making films while in high school. On graduation from college in 2003, he joined the Robot production company in Tokyo and in 2006 directed his first theatrical feature, "Taiyo no Uta (Song of the Sun)" about a girl with a rare skin disease that makes exposure to the sun fatal. Starring singer-songwriter Yui, the film earned more than ¥1 billion at the box office. "Gachi Boy," his followup film, was released March 1.
Koizumi met The Japan Times at the headquarters of Toho, the distributor of "Gachi Boy." Smiling broadly — and looking shockingly young, he started the interview in decent English, but soon switched to Japanese.
Both "Taiyo no Uta" and "Gachi Boy" feature heroes with a rare disabling illness. That wasn't an accident was it?