It's the second day of the new year and unseasonably warm outside Pole-Pole Higashi-Nakano, one of Tokyo's few remaining art-house theaters. Husband-and-wife filmmakers Werner Penzel and Ayako Mogi take a seat in the morning sun, taking off their coats while marveling at the weather.
Penzel and Mogi's 2016 documentary "Zen for Nothing" has just opened at this very theater and the couple have come to Pole-Pole to take part in a talk event. Before that, however, they are happy to sit down for a face-to-face chat.
"In order to properly talk about Zen, I need to do it in person," Penzel says. "Not over email or Skype."