Kaneko's Commissary

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2026: Knowing Me, Knowing You: The True Self in Japanese Cinema.  

Co-presented by the Japan Foundation.

Supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.

On the side of the innocent or the guilty? One man who sees both faces the fragility of human connection.

Earnest and hardworking KANEKO Shinji (MARUYAMA Ryuhei) runs a small commissary service, delivering items to prisons and detention centres on behalf of inmates’ families. He lives a modest, peaceful life with his wife Miwako (MAKI Yoko, Undercurrent, JFTFP24), their 10-year-old son Kazuma (MIURA Kira), and his retired uncle HOSHIDA Tatsuo (TERAO Akira) in the family home and shop that he inherited.

One day, Kazuma’s classmate and local friend Karin is found murdered. While the family struggles to recover from the shock, Shinji receives a request from the killer’s mother to deliver goods to her unrepentant son, KOJIMA Takashi (KITAMURA Takumi, Our 30-Minute Sessions, JFTFP21; Tremble All You Want, JFTFP19). Dutiful to his profession, Shinji accepts the request, but as he faces the murderer and receives scorn and shame from his neighbours, his anger towards the man — and doubt about his own work — grows.

Meanwhile, Shinji frequently encounters NINOMIYA Sachi (KAWAGUCHI Mana), a secondary school student, in the prison waiting room. Learning about her intention to meet the middle-aged former yakuza member (KISHITANI Goro) who killed her mother, Shinji is confronted by his own past and the delicacy of human bonds.

Based on the concept of a prison commissary — a little-known system in Japan, established by the government, where people go to designated shops to purchase and supply goods to prisoners — director FURUKAWA Go masterfully tells his original story of conflicted emotions and the truths that lie beneath the surface, bringing a strong sense of realism to his feature debut set in this unusual environment.

Contains scenes of child abuse and depictions of a deceased child.

Screenings

Busan International Film Festival 2024, Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas 2025