Fukuyama Masaharu Live Film
Kotodama no Sakiwau Natsu
"Boy Meets The Music"
@Nippon Budokan 2023

Masaharu Fukuyama’s “First” LIVE FILM
The boy of that summer day was once me――
On-stage autobiography by Masaharu Fukuyama

　Masaharu Fukuyama has been a singer for over 30 years since his debut in 1990. He is one of Japan’s leading artists, having achieved No. 1 album sales in his 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, and holds the record for the No. 1 total CD sales by a male solo artist in history. He has been active not only in music, but also in drama, film, radio, and many other fields, and has remained at the forefront since his debut. Fukuyama himself directed the film version of “Kotodama no Sakiwau Natsu @NIPPON BUDOKAN 2023,” which was held in the summer of 2023! The first live film, “Fukuyama Masaharu Live Film Kotodama no Sakiwau Natsu “Boy Meets The Music” @Nippon Budokan 2023,” will be screened in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2024!

　The film adapts the first live performance since the long-restricted cheering during the Covid-19 pandemic was lifted for the first time in three and a half years. The many cheering sounds delivered live to Fukuyama from the audience, and the enthusiasm and excitement of the audience that filled the venue and connected with each and every one of them in that summer, will be revived in theaters as a new film work.

　This film is directed by Fukuyama himself. Fukuyama supervised all aspects of the overall direction, video, and sound of the live performance. High-quality footage of the actual live performance was recorded using more than 40 cameras in all 360° angles, and for the first time in Nippon Budokan history, drone shooting was conducted with the audience in the arena. In addition, the best Dolby Atmos® sound technology was utilized to pursue the ideal sound expression with thorough attention to every detail. In creating this film, Fukuyama’s goal was not to create a “simulated experience that is like watching a live performance,” but a “live experience that surpasses a live performance. In this film production, he pursued the “ideal live sound,” “ideal live performance,” and “visual world” in his own brain to create the ultimate “live performance beyond the live performance” to be made into a film using the latest technology in the year 2023. The film also incorporates a storyline that only a film can tell, and “Masaharu Fukuyama as a boy,” played by actor Hinata Hiiragi, is the key to the work. Hiiragi played the boyhood of Hiromi Minami, the character he played in “The Last Man: The Blind Profiler” on TBS Sunday Theater, in which Fukuyama played the lead role. The film also features beautiful scenic inserts shot in his hometown of Nagasaki and CG effects, and these elements combine to create a film that uses the live performance itself as its source material in pursuit of the ultimate “ideal image of live performance.”
　※Drone shooting is conducted in accordance with the venue’s regulations.