Taku Aoyagi's first-person documentary TOKYO UBER BLUES premieres today as part of PBS' POV doc series. Photo courtesy of PBS. ©Nodelaico

Source: PBS
Special Thanks to Caitlin Hughes

Photo courtesy of PBS. ©Nodelaico

Taku Aoyagi's irreverent first-person gig worker documentary TOKYO UBER BLUES will make its broadcast premiere as part of PBS' POV doc series on October 21st on local PBS affiliate stations + streams free on the PBS App.

Unemployed in the wake of the pandemic, 26-year-old filmmaker Taku Aoyagi decides to try his luck in Tokyo. Short on worldly possessions, using his bike and phone, he becomes an Uber Eats rider. Now, he can decide his own hours, and is free to choose when to take orders!

But pedaling through deserted streets delivering boba tea to cloistered condos, he starts to wonder... what was it that Ken Loach said about the Uberization of society? Shot on a mixture of smartphones and GoPros, Taku invites the audience to join him on his daily rides speeding through a deserted Tokyo as he talks to himself and his peers, asking, for a young, unemployed person with $40,000 of student debt, does gig-work offer a model for the future?

Director: Taku Aoyagi 
Producer: Kazuo Osawa
Sound by: Taku Aoyagi
Cinematographers: Taku Aoyagi, Kiyoshi Tsuji, Kazuo Osawa
Editor: Kiyoshi Tsujii

Country: Japan 
Language: Japanese w/ English subtitles
Year: 2024
TRT: 93 min

Photo courtesy of PBS. ©Nodelaico