Manager Kazuhiko Tomioka poses in front of the Shinsekai Kokusai Gekijo theater on the day of its closing in Osaka’s Naniwa Ward, March 31, 2026. The sign in the back features a portrait of Shoji Hachijo. (Mainichi/Yosuke Tsuyuki)
OSAKA — The Shinsekai Kokusai Gekijo theater here, known for its hand-painted movie signs and bold taglines such as “Theater disappears!! A furious battle of the hopeless,” closed its doors on March 31 after nearly a century in business.
Fans and longtime patrons flocked to the venue in Osaka’s Naniwa Ward throughout its final day to mourn what was called the theater’s “complete disappearance.”
The venue opened in 1930 as the Nanyo Enbujyo playhouse. Its art deco-style reinforced concrete structure survived the war and was converted into a movie theater in 1950. With 501 seats including an underground adult-film screen, the venue had long offered triple features of Western films for 1,000 yen (roughly $6 at today’s rate).
Located near the district of Kamagasaki, where many day laborers live, the theater once served as entertainment for them. However, in recent years, as the facility and projection equipment have aged, maintenance costs have risen, while audience numbers have declined. “Our regulars are getting older. The atmosphere of the Shinsekai neighborhood has changed, and it started to feel out of place, so we decided to close,” said theater manager Kazuhiko Tomioka, 58.
A signature feature of the theater was its hand-painted signs, measuring about 1.8 meters high and 8.4 meters wide, depicting scenes from films and titles. They were created by Shoji Hachijo, 69, a film signboard artist from Osaka’s Nishinari Ward. Tomioka would describe the movie’s content and key phrases in broad terms and leave the rest to Hachijo’s creativity. “His paintings have a hand-drawn warmth to them, and he’s given free rein in terms of composition. They have a unique impact and are an essential part of this theater,” the manager said.
The final sign featured a portrait of Hachijo alongside the words “We’re closing now!!” “I thought it would be nice to do this at least for the last time, so I asked him to do it,” said Tomioka.
A hand-painted movie sign is seen at the Shinsekai Kokusai Gekijo theater in Osaka’s Naniwa Ward, March 26, 2026. (Mainichi/Yosuke Tsuyuki)
Throughout the closing day, regular customers brought in many gifts along with messages of gratitude, such as “Thank you for all these years” and “You’ve worked hard.”
“I’ve been coming here for about 10 years. When I heard about the closure, I thought, ‘So the day has finally come,'” said a 47-year-old company worker from the Osaka Prefecture city of Sakai’s Minami Ward. “It’s really sad.”
Tomioka also expressed a sense of sadness, saying, “Through the theater, I’ve been able to witness a wide variety of human stories. The venue has become a part of me.”
The building and its site have been sold, and future use of the property remains undecided.
(Japanese original by Yosuke Tsuyuki, Osaka City News Department)
AloJapan.com