Zenbird Editorial TeamA new documentary film chronicling the journey of a young climate activist from Tohoku University will be screened in Sendai this Saturday, on October 25. The event, organised by the “Michinoku Denki’”Screening Committee and the environmental NGO Fridays For Future Sendai, will feature a screening of the film “Michinoku Denki” followed by a Q&A session with its subject, Koichiro Shigihara, and director, Yu Iwasaki.
View this post on Instagram
The feature-length documentary follows Shigihara, now a doctoral student at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Agricultural Science, over two and a half years. Motivated by his experience of the Fukushima nuclear disaster as a primary school student, Shigihara became involved in climate activism after entering university in Sendai. The film documents his evolution as he connects with the global youth climate movement, organising street lectures and school strikes.
The film “Michinoku Denki” follows Shigihara as he joins movements protesting Japanese-funded coal power projects overseas, including in Bangladesh and Sarawak, and travels to the COP27 UN climate conference in Egypt. It also shows his work in Sendai, where he and his peers tackle energy poverty by advocating for a transition to renewable energy and organising food support initiatives. The documentary connects the global climate crisis with the tangible, everyday struggles faced by local communities.
Director Yu Iwasaki decided to film Shigihara after meeting him in the spring of 2021. Iwasaki believed that focusing on a single activist could make the abstract issue of climate change more relatable. “I thought that from the perspective of a single activist, the huge and abstract problem of climate change could be conveyed as something personal and immediate,” Iwasaki stated.
The director also shared how it was eye-opening for him to see Shigihara connect global-scale challenges with familiar, local problems, noting that Shigihara’s prior engagement with labour and poverty issues informs his approach. “He has an unwavering human rights awareness, a desire to change a society that ‘sacrifices someone’,” Iwasaki explained.
The event’s co-organiser, Fridays For Future Sendai, is a youth-led NGO that addresses the climate crisis, environmental destruction and human rights abuses. The group campaigns against environmentally damaging projects at home and abroad and works on the issue of energy poverty. In 2025, the organisation launched a new project, Agroforestry Lab, to research sustainable forestry management on a mountain it purchased.
The screening will take place at the Sendai City Support Center for Citizens’ Activities. Doors open at 17:30, with the event scheduled to run from 18:00 to 21:30. Admission is 500 yen, and free for students. The registration form can be found on their website.
[Reference] Fridays For Future Sendai (Japanese)
