YOYOGI JOHNNY

A teen’s after-school routine quietly unravels

Venue(s): Uplink Kichijoji
From November 5 (Wed), 2025 to November 26, 2025 (Wed), Every Wednesday.
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Official website: www.yojoni.com/
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/map
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/movie/2025/29047
Trailer: https://bit.ly/4oyWSdA
Tariff: Visit theater site for details.
Advance tickets: Visit theater site for details.

Title: 代々木ジョニーの憂鬱な放課後 (Yoyogi Jonney no Yuutsuna Hokago)
Director: Satoshi Kimura (木村聡志)
Duration: 109 min

Director Satoshi Kimura, known for Strange Lovers from Another Planet and There’s a Landing at the Top of the Stairs, returns with a portrait of teenage drift and small awakenings set in a high school squash club. The film follows the titular young man (played by rising musician Kanon), an eccentric student who finds inspiration from romance, friendship and a competition.

Johnny spends his afternoons arguing with his strong-minded girlfriend, killing time in the squash club room with his chatty teammates, and occasionally visiting his childhood friend, who has shut himself away from the world. His life seems predictable, even comfortable in its monotony. But things begin to shift. The squash club suddenly becomes motivated under the influence of a passionate new member. A part-time job at a local secondhand bookstore introduces Johnny to a girl with her own secrets. And just like that, his routine starts to crack open, exposing quiet desires and uncertainties that he can no longer ignore.

Blending humor and melancholy, Kimura paints a vivid picture of adolescence filled with hesitation, curiosity and fleeting encounters. Yoyogi Johnny is less about dramatic transformation than about the gentle rhythms of growing up—the kind of change that sneaks up during after-school hours, between laughter, frustration and first love.

Uplink Kichijoji