History of Okura Pictures
As a theater owner, a motion picture company executive, and as a former narrator for silent films, Mitsugu Okura established the Radio Film Corporation in 1947. He changed the name to Fuji Film Corporation in 1954 and started film production. With a lot of very unique and amazing ideas, Okura had produced many films including the “Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War” which had kept domestic attendance record of 20 million until it was broken by Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away in 2001.
In 1962, Okura Pictures created new category in movies: the pink film, and produced the “Flesh Market”. Subsequently it had changed its focus to R-18: limited for audiences of ages 18 years old and older. Currently, OP Pictures, the motion picture production arm of Okura Pictures, is making close to 40 films a year and holds more than 90% of market share. Okura’s films are shown in our own four theaters and 50 others across the nation. We have been working with Global Creative Industries Program at The University of Hong Kong since October 2014 to reposition pink film in the Asian market. At The First Global Creative Industries Conference in April 2015 in Hong Kong, we jointly announced "Sakuramentary" as the new name of pink film. "Sakuramentary" is created by students of the program; "Sakura" stands for Japan and "Mentary" is part of a word "Documentary" which is a crucial element of our films.
