While sifting through the movies submitted for this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), competition programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe says he noticed a recurring theme.

"I was struck by the number of films involving immigrants and refugees," he says. "It's become such a big issue, especially in Europe, and that was reflected in the movies I was seeing."

It's also an issue that has had little discernible impact on Japan so far — which is where the power of cinema comes in handy.