Date: Thursday, May 29 – Tuesday, June 10, 2025, ONLINE: Thursday, April 24 – Sunday, June 30, 2025

BRANDED SHORTS National Competition, Visual Tourism Award

KIDS Program 3, KIDS Program, Competition 26

The Boxfish and the Sea of Minamata

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Online

Boxfish lacks confidence and always stays alone by the rocks, watching other fish and feeling envious. Then, one day, upon meeting Himetatsu, who has lost the way and is said to be from the sea of Minamata, Boxfish's very first adventure begins.

Director
Takuya Inaba
Time
0:18:40
Country
Japan
Genre
Animation
Year
2024

Awards Nominations

KINEKO International Film Festival 2024 (Japan) – Nominated
79th Mainichi Film Awards (2024, Japan) – Nominated in the Animation Division
19th Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival (2025, USA) – Official Selection

Director

Takuya Inaba

After graduating from Kyoto Seika University, he joined ROBOT COMMUNICATIONS INC. He is now working as a freelancer. In addition to character design and animations for children, he works on various other projects, such as TV commercials, promotional videos, and picture books. Notable works include the original short animation KURO (2010), Golden Time (2013), and Jun: A Stroke of Spring (2022), based on an original story by Shotaro Ishinomori.

Golden Time received the Animation Division Excellence Award at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival. It also won the Audience's Choice and Light of Asia awards at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival in 2013.
Jun: A Stroke of Spring was awarded the Grand Prize at the JAAP International Short Film Festival 2022.

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Screening

Screening Venue

VenueScheduleTicket Reservation
LIFORK HARAJUKU2025.06.07 [Sat] 16:00-16:45
LIFORK HARAJUKU2025.06.08 [Sun] 16:00-16:45
WITH HARAJUKU HALL2025.6.10 [Tue] 15:10-17:00

Online Screening

OnlinescheduleOnline Screening
Online Screening2025.06.12 [Thu] - 06.30 [Mon]

Recommended

Sponsors

KODANSHA Ltd.

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION

CyberAgent, Inc.

Milbon Co., Ltd.

Hoppy Beverage co.

Digital Hollywood Co., Ltd.

NIPPON STEEL KOWA REAL ESTATE CO.,LTD.

CRG Co.,Ltd.

The JIKEI COM Group of Colleges

Festival Partner

Little Universe OKINAWA produced by Aim Universe

Event Partner

TAKANAWA GATEWAY CITY

Creative Partner

TYO Inc.

Japan Cultural Expo 2.0

Media Partners

J-WAVE, Inc.

CONDÉ NAST JAPAN

TOKYO HEADLINE

Media Supporters

cinemacafe.net

Kinema Junposha., Ltd

ORICON NEWS

English Media Supporter

Kyodo News Plus

Festival Supporters

MORI Building

War and the Power To Live Program Special Support

International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC)

Venue Supporter

NTT Urban Development Corporation

Tokyo Tokyo Festival