Shinji Aoyama was in an up mood when The Japan Times met him at the office of his distributor, Style Jam. His new film, "Sad Vacation," opened the Horizons section at the Venice Film Festival last week, and though, when we met, he confessed himself nervous at the prospect of facing a foreign audience, he was also excited. "I just hope they understand it," he said.
Aoyama himself is easy enough to understand, though he speaks in rapid-fire bursts, punctuated by the occasional loud laugh and bright, ear-to-ear smile.
You were thinking of making a followup to "Helpless," your first feature film, 10 years ago — the film that eventually became "Sad Vacation." What if you had made the film then?