Silent connections: travel, memory, and empathy in “To the Ends of the Earth” 4 min read
At first glance, To the Ends of the Earth (2019) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa appears to be a modest travel film- a quiet story about a Japanese television host navigating an unfamiliar country. Yet, beneath its understated surface, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film unfolds as a meditation on displacement, cultural misunderstanding, and the lingering aftershocks of history. Set in Uzbekistan, a place rarely centered in Japanese cinema, the film transforms a routine travel shoot into an exploration of how personal unease intersects with a culture centered around hospitality and collective historical memory. Through one woman’s tentative journey, To the Ends of the Earth reveals how travel can become a means of confronting not only foreign landscapes, but also the hidden ties that bind distant nations together.
To the Ends of the Earth follows Yoko (played by Atsuko Maeda), a reserved and introverted host of a Japanese travel television program as she travels to Uzbekistan with a small film crew to shoot an episode highlighting the country’s landscapes and culture. Throughout the production, Yoko is asked to perform uncomfortable and awkward tasks for the camera- such as trying to catch a mythical fish despite the clear vocal resistance of local fishermen that women scare fish away, eating plov that was made with undercooked rice, and riding a local attraction in an amusement park that makes her sick- all in order to capture usable footage to showcase Uzbekistan in front of the Japanese audience back home. As she navigates cultural differences, social norms and communication barriers, a misunderstanding at Chorsu Bazaar nearly leads to her arrest, underscoring her sense of isolation in an unfamiliar environment. However, Yoko’s experiences wandering the streets of Samarkand and Tashkent alone, off camera, slowly make her understand the most prominent aspect of Uzbek culture- hospitality.
One of the film’s most striking sequences takes place at the Alisher Navoï Opera and Ballet Theatre in Tashkent. Built after World War II by Japanese prisoners of war under Soviet authority, the theatre is not merely presented as an impressive architectural landmark, but a powerful symbol of the shared history between Japan and Uzbekistan. A conversation about the building’s past allows both Yoko and the audience to reflect on themes of displacement, suffering, memory and shared humanity. Drawn by the theatre’s quiet grandeur, Yoko wanders through its ornate halls, finding a rare moment of calm and connection. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa does not show the Alisher Navoï Opera and Ballet Theatre as a tourist site, but rather uses the space to represent endurance, dedication, cross- cultural empathy, and the unexpected emotional bridges that can form when histories intersect. The theatre stands as a quiet but powerful testament to a shared and painful history between Japan and Uzbekistan that is still remembered today.
The film gains additional depth when viewed in the context of Japan- Uzbekistan relations. During and after World War II, thousands of Japanese prisoners of war were sent to Central Asia, where many contributed to the construction of infrastructure and cultural institutions, including the Alisher Navoï Opera and Ballet Theatre. The Soviet Union held over 20,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians in Uzbekistan between 1945 and 1950, and they were employed as forced labor on a wide range of infrastructure and industrial works. Widely dispersed across the country, they constructed buildings, dams, and roads in regions including Angren, Bekabad, and Kokand, and built the Mukini Theatre, the Central Telegraph and Ministry of Culture, as well as barracks still in use today in Tashkent. In the decades since Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991, Japan has become one of its key diplomatic and economic partners, supporting development projects and cultural exchange initiatives. These ties are marked not only by diplomacy, but also by a shared effort to remember and acknowledge the past. Films like To the Ends of the Earth are a clear attestation of that drive for cross- cultural understanding and collective memory.
The film was created to commemorate two significant anniversaries: the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Uzbekistan, and the 70th anniversary of the Alisher Navoï Opera and Ballet Theatre. As a purpose- built project, To the Ends of the Earth both celebrates and thoughtfully reflects on the historical ties between the two nations.
